To The Beyond
by kangaroo555fofo
Summary: AU/Canon: After meeting Ace, Kyonko's life had been plunged into a world of time-travelers, parallel universe entities, a cosemetic system where pirate UFOs reign, and mostly just Ace. OC
1. The

**SUMMARY:** AU To think that high school would be boring, but now the world revolved on things like time-travelers, aliens, and a cosmetic system filled with pirate UFOs all because Ace was secretly decreed as some ultimate being. OC

**DISCLAIMER:** Don't own One Piece (by Eiichiro Oda) or Melancholy of Haruki Suzumiya (by Tanigawa Nagaru)

**NOTE:** It won't be exactly like Melancholy of Haruki Suzumiya, but the basis of it. Also, Ace here will be 15, so he would take up a personality resembling a bit like his 10-year-old self.

/00/

I entered school around my home area, in which I instantly regretted the moment I looked at the huge hill I had to climb over. Even in springtime, the sun was beating down on the poor students mercilessly, especially those who had to climb over this hill. Every time this thought rose to my head, I would get tired and depressed and would rather do something like laze around at home, but I made a vow to myself that I would work harder on my studies…so up the hill I go then.

This was seriously depressing, though. It was the first day of school and I was already tired of it. More than that—totally unexcited for the new year, the new school, and the idea of becoming a high school student. You'd think that optimism would rub off of me like any other girl, a chance for a young maiden to spread her wings and take flight, to find her one true love, to discover all kinds of thrilling adventures…

Whatever. I guess I never had enthusiasm mastered down—or maybe that I'm quite sane to be grieving that I have a gargantuan hill to climb over.

What made this day even _better_ was that all freshmen had to go to some mandatory ceremony where we mindlessly mingled and half-heartedly listened to the principal's monotonous speech. I caught half of the words he said before unconsciously drifting off.

When the ceremony was over, students were to head over to their homeroom. I was quick to find my class—classroom 1-5—and found my assigned seat there. Upfront, there was a slim man with glasses and a stern-looking face. By the time the seats were filled, Kurahodal-sensei—as he introduced himself as—gave a brisk yet warning speech about what he didn't tolerated in class and what was to be expected and the like. I'm pretty sure that everyone got the memo that we had a bad apple teacher here.

"Now I would like everyone to stand up and introduce himself or herself and the dreams to be achieved in the future," sensei said, folding his arms. "We'll start with you."

As each student stood up and followed the plan of the instruction, it soon became my turn. To be honest, I was a bit nervous on making my first impression on my classmates, fearing that I would mess up by stumbling over my words or something. In my head, I made sure I had a rehearsed introduction before standing. It actually went by pretty well—I just announced my name and what kind of goal I was hoping to achieve, just like how everyone else wished to have a good year, start off fresh, join a fun club, and so forth.

I sat back down when I was done, feeing a surge of relief. You know, that feeling when you've finished something unpleasant yet necessary? Yeah, that feeling.

Then the person behind me stood up for his turn and said in a clear, deep voice, "My name is Portgas D. Ace."

Up to this point, I didn't bother turning around and facing him. It was going to be another typical introduction. Little did I know how dead wrong I was.

"Normal human beings do not interest me. If you are an alien, a monster, an esper, or anything paranormal, come see me at once."

Now that caught me off guard. Hearing this, there was no way that I couldn't turn around. I looked over my shoulder and saw a tall boy surveying the classroom with a serious and challenging gaze. His hair drifted to his shoulders as his frown marred his face. It might have been shocking to see this kind of guy make such an outrageous proclamation, but it just happened.

I was torn whether to remain silent or laugh—maybe he was trying to be funny, who knows? Everyone else stared at him with wide eyes, the atmosphere quite tense. Well, except for the teacher who maintained an indifferent demeanor. While everyone was stunned, Kurahodal-sensei cleared his voice loudly and signaled for the next student to make his introduction, cutting off the tenseness.

And so…that was Portgas D. Ace.

After grabbing everyone's attention the first day, Ace reverted into a silent and frowning student. That frown must be perpetual.

I figured that Ace must have been someone…special, in a way. Oh yes, he was special all right. But by my miscalculations, I thought that he had the spotlight of this year's weirdo—in a peculiar-good-funny-odd-unique kind of way… Oh, forget it.

What I'm trying to convey is that there were definitely some students here who had graduated from junior high with Ace. And the chances of them being in the same class as me? Beats me, but from what I understood from my prior mistake, there were more than I would have liked. I came from a different junior high school, so of course I wouldn't know how to take care of this…delicate situation pertaining to Ace, unlike some of my classmates who knew what his stoicism meant.

And so, as a result, I did something regrettable a few days after the first day of school.

You see, when Ace sits in silence in his seat, he looks like a normal, good-looking guy. Besides, he seemed intriguing, so I thought, "Why not?" I suppose that curiosity got the better of me when I turned around to the boy who sat behind me, questions bubbling up inside me. Oh, how I wished someone would have slapped some sense into me.

"Hey," I said, smiling airily. "That stuff you said before… Was it true?"

Ace leaned back into his seat, his frown and irritable attitude all present in his glory. Whatever. "What stuff?" he responded.

"The stuff about the aliens."

"Do you happen to be an alien?"

I blinked at the sudden question. "Um, no."

"Then what business do you have with me?"

"N-nothing, I guess…"

"Then don't bother talking to me. You're a waste of my time." With that said, he tore away his stare and glared at the ceiling. I was so shocked that I just sat there, paralyzed, for a moment. When I regained my senses, I noticed that there were a couple people shooting amused glances at me. Oh, the humiliation.

That was the first time I've been called "a waste of time". Were my feelings hurt? Yes. Did I now hate Ace? Strangely, no. For some reason, I felt that I should have known not to ask him such and paid a bit more attention to his introduction—although, it had been a brisk one. You know what? Never mind. To be frank, Ace was indeed an insensitive jerk, but I knew that there was some explanation for it.

The conversation about Ace stirred up by the time lunch came around. I sat with my junior high friend, Kuina, and a girl who decided to join us, Nojiko.

Nojiko was from Ace's school, so it was obvious that she would ask me "Did you try to talk to Portgas-kun?"

I chomped on my roll and nodded.

"And he said something weird and you didn't know how to react?"

"That's what happened," I said, sighing.

Nojiko gave me a sympathetic smile. "Portgas-kun _is_ strange. I would know it the most since I've been in his class for three years, and I'm surprised that I've been sorted into the same class with him again."

Kuina's eyes were filled with curiosity. "Has he always been this peculiar?"

The girl nodded. "As far as I've known him. Back in junior high, he's done some pretty bizarre stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Well, there was that incident where he had snuck into school really late and drew these huge symbols all over the field using dust plaster." Nojiko then broke into a smile. "It was spectacular, to be honest. I went to school early that morning and saw these circles and triangles all over. I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to be, so I went up to the fourth floor to get a better view."

"You know, I think I saw a picture on the newspaper about it," Kuina said. "A helicopter had flown above the school and taken a picture of it."

"What I saw was an article. The headline read boldly 'Mystery Vandal Strikes Junior High At Night', and the person who came to mind was none other than Portgas-kun. I mean, I couldn't picture anyone else pulling a stunt like that."

"So it was him, right?"

"Yeah. He even admitted that it was him. Naturally, he got called to the principal's office. From what I heard, every teacher was bombarding him the same question: Why did he do it?"

Kuina leaned forward. "So, why did he do it?"

"I've got not a clue," Nojiko sighed, taking a bite of her rice. "There were rumors of why he did it, like how he was trying to call out to UFOs or something."

"Maybe he was into that occult stuff."

"You mean summoning a portal to go to another dimension?" Nojiko shrugged. "Maybe. Portgas-kun refused to talk about it, though. He wouldn't say anything no matter what."

I listened to the conversation carefully. An image of a younger Ace with drawing powders and tools floated to my mind. He would be dead-set on finishing his work as he constructed random shapes on the field, holding a flashlight to see what he was doing while at it.

I could have imagined the expectations he must have held after his accomplishment. He probably had stared deeply into the sky when he was done, hoping for something paranormal to be attracted to his hard work and land its spaceship right next to him. It must have been a melancholic situation when his hopes were all dried up.

Nojiko went on about the things that Ace had did, like set out all the desks on top of the roof while being dressed as a vampire, or the time when he performed a ritual having to do with loads of incense. I kind of tuned out afterwards while Nojiko and Kuina became animated in their discussion. I mechanically fed myself as my eyes drifted elsewhere.

Ace was not inside the classroom at this point, or else we probably wouldn't have been having this conversation. But then again, even if he did hear us, he probably wouldn't have cared. Usually, he marched out of the classroom immediately after fourth period, then came back right before the fifth. He didn't seem to have a bento, so I had assumed that he went to the cafeteria to eat, but it shouldn't take an hour to eat. Furthermore, he vanishes right at the end of every period. Just where does he go?

Nojiko's snorts rang my ears, drawing my attention back to her. "He's still pretty popular, though," she said amusedly. "He's athletic, smart, and pretty cute too. Some girls even see his peculiarity to be mysterious, and with that recluse attitude he's a 'lone wolf' kind of guy."

Wow.

"Really?" Kuina said.

"Yep. For a while, he started to ask girls out randomly for the longest period of time. It was said that the longest relationship he had with a girl lasted for a week and the shortest was five minutes."

"I'm guessing that he was the one doing all the dumping, yeah?" I spoke.

"Exactly. The reason why he kept dumping was because, and I quote, 'I prefer not to waste my time with ordinary humans!'" She paused to chow down a mouthful of fish. "At least, that's what the girls kept crying about. Afterwards, they envisioned him to be a villain due to his heartbreaking streak, but that faded away quickly."

And to think that I would have a peaceful high school life. Without a doubt, it was plain to see that Ace would make this year an interesting one.

/00/

It was still April and Ace had yet to act up, but he did reveal some of his odd routines.

Odd routine #1: Everyday, he changes his appearance, and, regarding to my observations, there was a certain pattern to it. On Monday, he would come to school with his hair down and a yellow sticker stuck on his freckles. On Tuesday, he would come to school with a spike gelled on his head and a red sticker on his freckles. Wednesday, two spikes and a blue sticker. Thursday, three spikes and a green sticker. And Friday, four spikes and a gold sticker. And when Monday came again, the routine started all over again.

I really didn't get the routine of it at all. What was the point of adding the number of spikes as the days went on? And if he did keep that up, I wonder how his hair would look like on a Sunday.

Odd routine #2: For PE, classes 1-5 and 1-6 are combined to have the same class together. When it was time to get changed, the girls would go to 1-6 and the boys 1-5. Ace at least listened to this rule, or rather didn't have to since he didn't need to go anywhere, but he did cause trouble anyway. Before the girls in 1-5 would have the chance to move, Ace would start stripping away.

Most girls were confused by this and others, those with no shame at all, would start squealing in delight. Apparently, Ace's muscular physique was equivalent to that of Adonis, but I wouldn't pay mind to it at all. Troublesome.

So, basically, we were nothing more than sacks of potatoes to him. I asked Nojiko about this, and she said that this behavior was totally new for someone like Ace. In order to protect the purity of our maiden eyes, we girls would scurry out of the room right after the bell would ring.

Odd routine #3: Ace had a tendency of joining clubs and quitting right after. I discovered this a while back when I was passing by. One day, you'll see him shooting hoops in the basketball club or spinning an urn in the pottery club. He'll hit a homerun in the baseball club or strum a guitar in the music club.

I'm taking a guess here and say that he's utterly talented in everything that he does because it was often to see people trying to talk him into joining their clubs for good. However, Ace would turn to face them and shout "What good would it do if I were to do the same boring stuff? I need new experiences!"

In the end, he didn't join a club.

Because of his in-and-out attitude towards all the clubs he tried out, word met ear and word met ear. Ultimately, Ace became noticed just like that and there wasn't a single person who didn't know who he was. From the principal who barely showed his face in school, Ace became a household name. Ridiculous, right?

/00/

Ever since they heard my little brother call me Kyonko, my friends wouldn't stop calling me that. It derived from my grandparents who thought it'd be funny to call me as such, and when Wataru heard them he started calling me that. It used to be exasperating hearing that nickname, but I later got used to it. Actually, I think that my classmates think my real name really is Kyonko.

I was on my way to school, still on the process of reach over Mount Kilimanjaro—this huge frickin' hill I must cross over _everyday_. Kuina ran over to me with ease, not at all affected by the steepness of the hill. It could be that I'm seriously not physically fit or that those kendo practices that she takes really gives her strength.

"Morning, Kyonko," Kuina chirped.

"Mornin'," I replied drowsily. "You don't walk this way."

"No, I usually don't, but Zoro and I got into an argument, so I decided to take a different path."

Zoro was her brother, younger than us by a year. I met him a couple times before, and they looked nothing alike. I assumed that he was adopted, but didn't dare mention anything about it. Zoro was a quiet boy by nature; he wasn't shy, but more like…one of those strong and silent type of guy, you know? Yet there were times when he did talk a lot—well, more like complain. He would complain about the teachers and students in his school, especially a certain "love cook" he was so fond of degrading.

Kuina once told me that Zoro only knew how to communicate by complaining.

As we continued our way, we soon came across Nojiko. We traded our salutations and talked about trivial things. Kuina and Nojiko happened to develop a love for materialism as they often spoke about boys, clothes, teachers, and the like. Of course, once in a while I would become interested in what they have to say, such as Nojiko explaining about the crop inflation issue her mother had come across with or Kuina making it to the finals in the kendo tournament.

Still… Whenever they got into the routine of being materialistic, I tuned them off and just go off gazing. I wonder if this was what Ace meant by finding something out of the ordinary.

/00/

I've done it again.

I was talking with Ace.

It started out with me entering class and finding Ace already in his seat, frowning like always. Two spikes protruded from his head, so today must be Wednesday. After I sat down…I found myself talking to him again. Something must be wrong with me. Maybe I had lost it.

"Are those hair spikes and stickers a way of contacting aliens?"

Ace slowly lifted his eyes and settled them on me, watching me coolly. I felt a bit uneasy by this. "When did you notice?" he inquired.

I took a moment to think of an answer. "Awhile ago, I think."

"Well..." Ace relaxed into his seat, looking bored. "Each day of the week gives off a different image: Monday is yellow, Tuesday is red, Wednesday is blue, Thursday is green, Friday is gold, Saturday is brown, and Sunday is white."

I was starting to get it. By using the characters in the colors, there was a number representation. "So that means if we use numbers to represent each color, Monday would be zero and Sunday six, right?"

"Yes."

"Shouldn't Monday be one, though?" I pointed out.

"Who asked you?"

"…Um, yeah. Right."

And then he glared at me. I could feel a trickle of sweat slide down the back of my neck as I stared back, and I seriously had no idea why I would do such a thing. We continued staring at one another until he asked, "Have I met you somewhere before?"

It was as if the barrier of total awkwardness had finally been broken, only to be replaced with a confusing question. "Um, I don't think so."

Then Kuro-sensei (what we call our homeroom teacher now) entered the room, ending our first actual conversation.

The next day, Ace came to school with a haircut and sticker-less.

Was it something that I said?

/00/

"Is it true that you really tried to join all the clubs?"

From then on, I fell into the routine of talking to Ace a few minutes before class would start. Obviously, if I didn't try to start a conversation, Ace would just sit there with a frown—jeez, doesn't he _ever_ smile? Additionally, I had to come up with interesting topics to converse about, nothing like what was seen on T.V last night or the new popstar sensation. Nojiko and Kuina would totally fail at holding a conversation with him.

I would prop my arm on the head of the chair and rest my chin on my arm. I'm sure that Ace was used to this by now, and I've grown used to seeing him frown and fold his arms across his chest and him leaning against his seat. For someone who didn't like structure, he sure was establishing one daily.

"Yes," he replied.

"Were any of them fun?"

"No," Ace said this with an exceptionally flat tone, and then sighed. "Everyone says that high school would be life changing, but I see no difference. The protocol is essentially the same: mandatory education, boring lectures, dumb clubs… I've attended the wrong school—that might be it."

No, all schools were like this.

"Sports clubs and cultural clubs are exactly the same. They're all boring. If there was some unique, exceptional club in this school, then I might consider joining. "

"Who put you in charge of deciding what clubs are interesting or not?" I wondered aloud.

Ace scowled. "Shut up. I prefer a club that's unique and special. I'd consider joining something like that."

"I knew you'd say that."

"Mmm."

/00/

"I heard that you asked out and then dumped all your girlfriends."

Ace's head shot up. "What does it matter to you?"

I knew not to say "Nothing" for Ace will grow irrationally angry. Instead, I replied with "Curious."

"Che." Ace folded his arms and scowled. "I don't know what you heard, but it doesn't matter. Most of it is true, in any case."

"So you never met a girl you ever wanted to have a serious relationship with?"

"Not one. How could I possibly engage in a serious relationship when all of them were silly and immature? The majority of them expected me to whip out a luxurious dinner with candles, and then take them to a sappy romantic movie for the 'heart-pounding experience', or so I've been told. Many, many, many times, in fact."

I realized that Ace was ranting.

"And in the end, they would say a shy goodbye and walk away. What is up with that? And then, without fail, they would conjure a confession of their deepest love and adoration _over the phone_. What's so hard about saying it to my face?"

I couldn't answer, not that Ace would want my answer anyway. All of those questions were rhetorical, of course. But I couldn't find a response that would suit his tastes—I would probably wind up angering him again. It was because I could understand how those girls felt. I mean, they were in junior high at the time, so it was obvious that they would expect these things from him. And I'm sure they were too shy to profess their love before him.

He had a strong personality, anyway, and too insensible to bother seeing it from his former girlfriends' perspective. Or maybe it was because he was a typical fifteen-year-old boy with an infatuation for the paranormal. Yeah, I'm sure that would classify as terrible boyfriend material. I really hope I wouldn't end up with someone like Ace.

"I'm guessing that only aliens could satisfy your tastes then?" I inquired dryly.

"I am fine with aliens or similar things as long as they are not human. Be they male or female."

I raised a brow. "Why is it so important that they not be human?"

Ace looked at me as though I was an idiot. I probably was one.

"Because ordinary humans are no fun at all."

/00/

"How do you do it?"

I blinked. "Do what?"

"Don't play dumb," Nojiko snorted. "How did you manage to get Portgas-kun to talk so much? I've never seen him engaged in so many conversations before!"

"I just…asked him questions."

She gave me a flat stare. "Just asked questions?"

"Really."

"Really?"

"Really!"

/00/

It was by time that we got to change seats now. The student president tore pieces of paper and numbered them all and placed them in a tin. The tin was then passed around for us to draw from it. Giddiness welled up inside me when I realized that I could get away from Ace FOREVER! And the seat that I had chosen was the absolutely best one yet! It was in the second to last row next to the window that overlooked the courtyard—talk about fantastic!

And just guess who sat behind me?

The ever-frowning Ace…

I just couldn't believe my luck. I mean, it's not like I believed there was something like the red string of fate being tied to your pinky or anything…but _really_? Did Ace really have to miraculously pick a number that happened to be behind me? Really?

Ace was groaning. I noticed that he was trying to bury his face in his desk. "Why won't anything interesting ever happen?" he whined. "Like, I don't know, grade school kids vanishing one by one and their bodies being found by the river bed or teachers found murdered inside a locked classroom! That'd be exciting."

I tried not to twitch. "Portgas, shut up."

I don't know why, but Ace had been a bit more talkative than usual. In fact, he even brought up the conversation himself. "I went to see what the Mystery Study Group was like," he piped.

"Oh? And how was it?"

"Boring as hell. There was nothing interesting, and all the members were detective otakus yet none of them bother to dress up like one."

Did you have to dress up like a detective in order to be one?

"I also went to the Supernatural Study Group," Ace went on.

"And how was that one?"

"The members were just a bunch of occult maniacs."

And he wasn't? "You didn't have fun in that one?" I asked, propping my cheek on my hand.

"Nope." Ace sat up straighter and sighed heavy heartedly. "Everything is too boring. Why does this school have no decently interesting clubs?"

This had gone for long enough with all of his vigorous club hunting, and yet none of the clubs satisfied him. What was up with this guy? He was expecting way too much out of a simple high school. The sports clubs were too boring, the culture clubs were too boring, and the study group clubs were too boring… If everything was boring to him, then _what_ in the world did he want?

I got the general idea of what kind of club he wanted, and that was the "do something interesting" club, which I wasn't sure whether it existed or not. Well, just what was interesting to him? Aliens, monsters, espers, and anything paranormal, that much I know. He also liked murder crimes, right? And he did like UFOs, regarding to when he drew on the field when he was a junior high student.

But then…all these things couldn't be thrown in his face at the same time. Ace made it clear that he would want anything different, spontaneous, and superb. That was why he complained all the time; that was why he was always irritable. He was just like a kid.

I know how that feels, though.

"Then if you don't like the clubs here, why not make your own?" I inquired absently. Ha. If Ace were to establish his own club, he'll find it uninteresting and toss it away like the other clubs he had attended to for a short time period.

Ace didn't respond. Instead, his face got even angrier. Good grief, do I have a knack for pissing people off or what?

/00/

The heat was making me sleepy, and the whole class, I'm sure. As I was just nodding off, something took a strong grab of my ponytail and jerked me backwards, causing me to yelp. That certainly woke me up. My hands flew to my head automatically as I awkwardly looked behind. Of course it would be Ace.

"What are you doing? Let go!" I snapped.

I couldn't quite see him, but something in his tone made me imagine that he was smiling. "Why didn't I think about this before?" he cheered—first time I ever heard him cheer. "You're a genius, Kyonko!"

When he released me, I turned and was stunned to see a radiant grin sprouting on his face. From all those days of seeing him expressing nothing more than a frown or a scowl or a face of pure boredom, this grin nearly took my breath away—in a shocking sense, I mean.

Ace shot up to his feet and towered over me, his eyes sparkling like the stars. "If it doesn't exist, then why don't create one myself?"

"Create what?" I grumbled, soothing the sore spot on my head.

"Create a club!"

"Oh, that's great," I deadpanned, "but right now I want you to remember where we are and then you can share your incredible joy with me later."

"Why? What do ya mean?"

"Class is still on."

The class looked utterly awestruck and the newbie English teacher looked as though she was ready to cry. Must be hard having students who didn't care what you were teaching.

I signaled Ace to sit down, which he actually did (unwillingly) along with his impatient grumblings. I bowed politely to the teacher and sat down as well.

As the lesson continued, my mind strayed away. Create a club? Oh my gosh, I didn't think he would take me seriously! And just when I thought I simply pissed him off royally. I just hope that whatever plans he had in his head, he wouldn't drag me along with him.


	2. Truth

**AN:** Kyonko is the OC, but she's pretty much an original from The Melancholy of Haruki Suzumiya. The others are purely canon.

/00/

The horror has begun.

When the bell rang, instead of marching out of class like he usually did, Ace picked me up and threw me over his shoulder as though I weighed nothing at all. I didn't know where he was taking me, but it wasn't as if I wanted to find out. I tried to struggle my way out, but Ace was surprisingly strong.

Riding on Ace's shoulder was terribly uncomfortable. Just imagine lying on the corners of a table during an earthquake. The ride then became bumpy. I'm guessing that he was now running up the stairs. Finally, when he stopped, he dropped me (ouch) and grinned widely. I cast an irritated glare at him (which he totally ignored) and looked around—we were in an empty hallway.

"Help me out," he said, placing his big hands on my shoulders and looking at me straight in the eyes.

I blinked. "W-with what?"

"With my new club."

I should have seen this coming. "And just why should I help you with something that you thought up five minutes ago?"

"I'll need to secure a room for the club and gather members, so you have to find out what the paperwork and administration need!"

He wasn't listening to me!

It might be wise to just give up applying common sense into him, so I asked reluctantly, "What is the club going to be?"

"What does it matter? The important thing to do is make the club!" Ace patted my shoulders hard. I think I might have lost a few centimeters by now. "Today after school, do what I've told you to do and I'll find ourselves a club, got it?"

Noooo.

Before I had the chance to say my refusal, Ace had already dashed down the stairs, leaving a perplexed girl on her own.

...I didn't even agree to help.

AUGH! Whatever... I better think up some explanation to my classmates about that scene Ace caused before dragging my heavy feet back.

/00/

It wasn't hard finding the information of making a club. I didn't even have to ask around because all the information was listed in the student handbook. Of course Ace wouldn't bother taking a look in it—he's Ace, after all.

The requirements for organizing a club: five or more members, a sponsor teacher, a club name, a chairperson, and a summary of the goal and activities the club intended on carrying out. The club also needed to get approval from the student council, and didn't get school funding.

Sounded simple enough. I'd imagine Ace grabbing random students to join this club of his, and getting a teacher to sponsor him (or maybe there was an 'us' involved) wouldn't be so hard. However, the name would no doubt be stupid and the chairperson would be none other than Ace. The activities? Yeah, and there was no way the student council will approve of this.

/00/

When school was over, Ace threw me over his shoulder again and took off. All I could do before he could show off his monster strength was grab my bag. Seriously, this guy needed to stop doing this.

I tried to demand where he was taking me, but it was kind of hard to when the guy who was carrying you kept having his shoulder digging into your gut. And I was trying so hard not to have my skirt flip up and show the world my hot pink panties. Man, of all the days to wear this pair, did Ace really had to carry me in such a barbaric way?

He bowled over a couple students and practically flew down the stairs to the first floor, then zoomed to another building of the school and hurtled up to another flight of stairs. He finally stopped and put me down, gently this time. We were in the middle of a dimly-lit hallway, I noticed, and before us was a door with a sign.

The Literature Club. That was what the sign said.

"Well, here it is," Ace said, grabbing the knob and opening the door without knocking. He swung the door open and strutted inside. Hesitantly, I followed him inside.

I surveyed the room and was very unimpressed. Despite being fairly large, the room was pretty much empty, save for a long table, metal chairs, and a few book shelves. Hate to admit it, but I was late to take notice of the lithe male student who sat by the windows, reading a thick novel.

"Uh, Portgas—"

"From this day forth, this room shall be ours," declared Ace in a dignified fashion, crossing his arms across his chest. Again, he showed how uncharacteristic he was in class by grinning excitedly, his eyes bright.

Well, I could have just stood there, amazed by the 180 degree change in his personality, but I was a bit annoyed by being cut off. "Now wait a minute," I said loudly, "just where is this place?"

"The cultural and arts club building. Ya know how the art and orchestra club get their own rooms? Well, clubs like that are all organized here, where they can hold all their meetings and such. This building is called the old complex, and this particular room happened to belong to the literature club."

I frowned. "What about the literature club?"

Ace waved dismissively. "After all the third-years graduated, the club had zero members. If there are no members joining this year, then the club would be canceled."

"But what about that guy?"

"He's the club's only member."

"Then the club isn't canceled after all!"

"Same difference," Ace snorted, plopping down on one of the chairs. "A club with only one member is basically the same with a club with no members."

I suppressed the urge to cover my face with my hand. I'm guessing that our first activity would be invading other clubs, now is that right?

I glanced at the literature club's newest member. He had long fair hair; it was what I could only gather since he hadn't looked up even once. Other than mechanically turning the pages of his book, he hadn't moved a muscle.

"What about him?" I whispered sideways to Ace.

"He said he's fine with it."

My eyes widened. "For real?"

"I asked him during lunch. I told him I needed him to lend us the room, and he said go ahead, just so long as he can read his books in here in peace." He shrugged. "Now that you mention it, though, he is pretty weird."

Oh, like you're one to talk.

I gave a small huff before returning my observations back to the boy. He seemed to be someone tall if he stood up, probably the same height as Ace. He looked rather bony, though, and what was up with the hair? I tried to bury my envy deep, but _man oh man_—he had really pretty hair!

As if he had noticed my observations, he suddenly lifted his head. Pale eyes stared at me, his face completely expressionless. In comparison to Ace, this guy had a default poker face. I was kind of intimidated, actually.

"Basil Hawkins, class 2-2," he said monotonously, and then returned his eyes back to his novel.

I could hear a pin drop if it weren't for Ace's loud presence. "Um, Basil-sempai, Portgas here wants to use your room for whatever club he plans on making. So…is that alright with you?"

"Yes," he responded, not looking away from his novel.

"But we could cause you trouble."

"Not a problem."

"You might get chased out of here or something…"

"Feel free."

"…" He answered so simply and emotionlessly. I got the message that he just didn't care either way just as long as he had his books. Huh.

Ace shot me a triumphant grin and leapt back to his feet. "So it's been settled," he exclaimed, and then thrust his finger at me. "From now on, we'll meet here in this room after school. Be sure you show up or else!"

I had a really bad feeling that if I don't show up, Ace would give me hell. So I obediently nodded, knowing that disaster was falling upon me anyway.

/00/

The next day, I sadly declined Nojiko and Kuina's offer of going home. Ace made it very sure that I would remember to go to the club that I was introduced to yesterday. Heck, he kept whispering it to my ear during classes! Augh.

As I gathered my items into my bag, Ace zoomed out of the classroom after telling me to go on without him. I wondered where he was going, but then decided that it would be best not to know anyway.

So I went to the clubroom myself. Entering inside, I found Basil Hawkins there already, in the same exact spot where we first met. Annnd…he was reading again, too.

I went over to a chair and sat down, setting my bag on the table. The room was engulfed with silence, and I grew quite uncomfortable by it.

"So…what are you reading?" I asked, trying to bring up a conversation here. If I was able to get Ace talking, then surely there would be hope for this guy!

Correction: not at all. Instead of replying, Basil lifted the book and showed me the title. I didn't get the chance to read it since he set the book down again.

"Oh. Is it interesting?" I tried again.

"Unique," he said simply.

"Which part of it?"

"All of it."

"…I guess you like books, huh?"

"Yes."

"Is that so…?"

"…"

Silence. Again.

I guess he didn't want a conversation.

A few minutes of awkward quietness and the door was brutally kicked open by none other than Portgas D. Ace. He filled the room with his cheerful "Hey guys!" as he waltzed inside while dragging someone along. "Sorry for being late, but it took a while to catch this guy," he announced, then pulling the person in with one strong jerk.

It was another boy.

It was a crazy cute boy.

He was small and slim, looking more like a middle school student dressed up as a high school student. His brown hair was tousled in an adorable way, and his large eyes looked around in a nervous fashion. He was trembling.

"Wh-what's going on?" he whimpered. "Wh-wh-why am I h-here?"

Ace locked the door, and the small boy cringed by the ominous click.

"Wh-why are you locking the door?" he cried hysterically.

"Silence."

The boy stiffened at the start of Ace's imperious and brisk command, and then gave an involuntary yelp when Ace threw a companionable arm around his frail shoulders. "Let me introduce you to Tony Tony Chopper," Ace said with a beaming smile on his face.

…

…

…What, that was it?

I shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Just where did you kidnap him from, Portgas?" I asked, exasperated, obviously.

Ace scoffed. "I didn't kidnap him; I just made him come with me."

That was the same thing!

"Anyway, I found him daydreaming in room 1-9 while I was looking for members, and the moment my eyes laid on him I knew that he was perfect for our plans!" he enthused.

We were having plans…?

Ace abruptly slapped Tony Tony between his shoulder blades, causing the smaller boy to wobble and clutch the edge of the table for support. "See how weak he is?" he said, pointing down at Tony Tony—the poor fella. "What he needs is guts! Guts and courage! If you have those, then there's no way you'll be weak! Lack them and you'll never amount to anything."

Well, that wasn't very nice.

"So this is the club's first project," Ace announced. "We are to make this runt into a man! A man among men! A manly man!"

I felt the wheels of stupidity turning.

Although…he did have a point. Looking at Tony Tony now, he wasn't exactly built that of a boy. More like a girl—well, a flat-chested girl. Erm, a really flat-chested girl… Okay, so I admit that I'm not that well-developed on the chest compartment, so what?

Apparently, Tony Tony didn't take that offense too well as he struggled to stand up and call Ace out. "H-hey, that's not nice! I-I'm a man too, you know!"

Ace's eyes glinted as he turned back to him. "Is that so…?"

He grabbed Tony Tony and stuck…his hand…down…

Oh. OH MY GOSH. Portgas has gone too far this time!

I wasn't so sure who screamed first, but I'm sure that it was Tony Tony. I felt my face burn crimson (how could I not?) and rushed in to split the two. "Stop that! That's—that's harassment, you know!" I snapped.

"Whoa!" Ace cried out, completely shocked. His eyes marveled at the stretch of his hand. "His is HUGE!"

"SHUT UP!"

He looked at me. "You wanna find out?"

"NO! SHUT UP!"

My eyes strayed to Basil, and you know what? He didn't seem to notice the whole fiasco!

Tony Tony sagged to the ground, his face buried with his hands as though he was experiencing worldwide humiliation. Perhaps he was.

"So…you just brought him here to make him _manlier_?" I asked, bewildered.

Ace scratched his cheek. "Actually, I was hoping for him to be…the mascot as well. Yeah, that's it! The mascot." He grinned.

Well, it was official. Ace's idiocy has surpassed all idiots in the universe. He should have established "The World's Most Dangerous Idiots" club and dragged other idiots along with him. Maybe I should become a member for allowing him to do this in the first place… I'm such an idiot.

"Chopper!" Ace suddenly barked.

"Y-yes?" Tony Tony stammered, looking up.

"What club are you currently joining?"

"Uh, th-the medic club…"

"Quit that one. Not manly enough. Besides, it'll get in the way of our activities."

Whoa! Selfish much? And since when did we have a medic club in this school?

Tony Tony looked as though he was a victim choosing his own death by either cyanide or strychnine. He focused those puppy-dog eyes on me, probably hoping that he could gain help from me. I nearly succumbed, but then his eyes drifted to Basil for the first time, and that was when his eyes widened in what seemed to be startled surprise.

"I see…" he murmured, staring at the upperclassman. "I'll quit the medic club…and join this one."

Wait, wait, wait, wait… Huh? What did he see? And why did he say all that while looking at Basil?

Tony Tony bit his lip. "But I'm not sure what the literature club does though…"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Ace said, folding his arms, "we're not the literature club."

The small boy blinked, confused, so I cut in to explain. "We're just borrowing this room for a bit. The club you've been forced to join is actually an unnamed organization to be chaired by Portgas D. Ace," I jerked my thumb in the direction of Ace, "and we'll be participating in unknown activities."

"Uh, what?"

"In fact, that person in the corner is the actual and only literature club member."

"…Oh."

Yeah. Baffling. I know.

"No worries," Ace said, leaping onto a chair and looking down at us in a parody of a king looking down at his subjects. "I just thought of a name!"

"Great," I muttered. "Let's hear it."

He smirked and took a deep breath, in preparation for the momentous revelation of the name of his grand design.

"The SOS Brigade!"

With that said, he launched a full on detailed elaboration on how he had come across such a brilliant, brilliant idea. Apparently, it was an abbreviation for this:

Saving the world by

Overloading it with fun

Superbly awesome brigade

Saving the world by Overloading it with fun—Superbly awesome brigade. No alterations made. Purely the result of Portgas D. Ace's mind.

The SOS Brigade!

I give my audience the permission to laugh.

I was too dumbstruck to manage that, though.

Tony Tony kept his mouth shut, as though he was resigned to his fate. Basil was inattentive to whatever's going on and too absorbed with his novel as always, and he was an outside anyway. I was suffering a mind spasm.

This was why I regret ever talking to Ace.

/00/

After bossing us around and being the usual insensitive idiot who I had the misfortune of knowing, Ace finally dismissed today's meeting. I left the old complex with Tony Tony trailing behind me, his shoulders drawn forward and his face wearied.

Pity surged within me. "Uh, Tony Tony-kun…"

He looked up. "Yes?"

"Look, you really don't have to join a weird club like this if you don't want to. Don't worry about Portgas; I'll find a way to explain it to him."

Tony Tony looked at me in the eye, and then shook his head while smiling. "No, that's alright. I want to join."

I still didn't understand why he would, though. "I don't think that whatever Portgas had planned in mind will turn out so well," I tried to warn him.

"But you're in it, aren't you?"

Yeah... but not by choice.

"This was probably inevitable on the temporal plane..." he murmured, his eyes staring off into the distance.

I blinked. "Pardon?"

"And I'm interested in Basil..."

"Interested?"

"Eh? Oh, no, it's nothing," he said, shaking his head. His tufts of hair shook when he looked up, and smiled boyishly. "Well, since we're going to be fellow club members, I hope we would get along."

"Uh, if you say so, but look, Tony Tony-kun—"

"Please, just call me Chopper."

He smiled.

Aww... he's so cute!

/00/

The next morning, I found myself depressed as I climbed over Mount Everest. I seriously don't know how the other students do it—may be they were putting up a façade that this hill was really a pain in the butt for them. Ugh. I wish I had some kind of transportation to take me to school without any trouble!

"Kyonko!"

Arms wrapped around my shoulders, and I looked over to see who it was. "Hey, Kuina," I yawned.

"So?"

"So what?"

"So what's up with you and Portgas-kun?"

I paused. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

She snorted. "Don't play dumb with me, Kyonko! Everyone has seen the way you and Portgas-kun had been together recently. Don't tell me that you two are…_dating_, are you?"

"What?" I cried. "Don't be ridiculous, Kuina! That guy's a nut job! Why would I date someone like that?"

She eyed me critically, as though she didn't quite believe me, but shrugged. "Well, just be careful. If you get roped into vandalizing the school field, you'll get suspension, at least."

Oh, as though Ace could get me into doing something like that.

Deciding to change the topic of the discussion, I asked, "Did you and Zoro get into another argument?"

"Nah, I decided to walk this way. Sure beats being bombarded with questions by one of his friends who walks with him recently."

"Oh, you mean that Chimpanzee guy?"

"That's Monkey D. Luffy, actually," she laughed. "And yes, him."

I could sympathize Kuina because I too had been a victim of Luffy's nonstop chatter. The kid was _annoying_, and it made me curious as to how Kuina's third-year strong and silent brother be friends with a hyper and noisy first-year. From what I heard from Kuina, Luffy and Zoro met by defending a kid from bullies a few years ago, together beating them up ever so heroically. It was then on that Luffy stuck by Zoro, and Zoro never really minded.

"Luffy never did walk the same route as you two did before, right?" I asked.

"Nope. I think he moved houses or something. I'll ask next time." Kuina shrugged.

/00/

I entered class that day and was hit by Ace's joviality. It was emitting off of him like a tidal wave. I tried to ignore it as I pulled my chair and sat down, maintaining indifference just like how Kuro-sensei would do it. Unfortunately for me, Ace just had to pressure me by asking me a question, which, of course, just had to revolve around his club.

"You know what we need?" he inquired.

"Beats me."

"We need to get our hands on a mysterious transfer student!"

I sighed. "Then, pray tell, defines a mysterious transfer student?" I said flatly.

"Ya know, those who get transferred two months after the school term started. Duh."

"Maybe their parents just got a job transfer and they got dragged along."

"Bah, that would be too forced and unnatural!"

"I'd really like to know what you, of all people, consider unnatural."

"Mm, a mysterious transfer student..." he said wistfully. "When is one going to show up?"

Why doesn't he ever listen to me?

/00/

"We need a computer!"

Since the founding of the SOS Brigade, the once sparse literature clubroom began to accumulate a growing number of items. A portable clothes rack stood in one corner of the room; an electric kettle and cups for everybody was always on hand, along with a traditional teapot, a single-compartment refrigerator, a portable gas stove, and eating utensils. A stereo system (connected to a CD/MD player/radio) and a PS2 sat nearby. What was this stuff for? Did he plan to live here or something?

Ace was sitting on a desk he'd stolen from who-knows-where, cross-legged, cross-armed, and just generally crossed. By his side sat a black triangular pyramid across which the worlds "Brigade Commander" had been scrawled in magic marker.

"It's a tragedy! We're living in the information age, and yet a Brigade as important as mine doesn't even have a single computer!" Ace complained.

In any case, all the members of Ace's little gang were here today. Basil Hawkins sat silently in his usual spot, reading a book about a moon of Saturn falling or something like that. Tony Tony Chopper had obediently arrived (despite the fact that he didn't really have to be here...) and was seated on a chair, looking confused.

As for me? I just wanted to go home.

I didn't like the way Ace had a sinister smile on his face. He most definitely had a scheme hatched up.

"That is why," he said in a theatrical tone that would get him a fulltime membership in the drama club, "I came up with a plan."

Told ya so.

He jumped off the desk and sauntered to the clothes rack where he pulled out a brown bag that had been sitting there behind it. He shot a beaming grin at Chopper, who recoiled in fear. "I have a present for you, Chopper!" Ace sang.

"Oh r-really?" Chopper said, not at all looking pleased by said gift.

The next thing I knew was that I was standing outside of the club, flustered, and hearing the unpleasant sounds of Chopper's cries for help and Ace's evil cackle. When the door opened, I was introduced to a feminized Chopper. She—ERM, I mean, _he_ was dressed up in a maid outfit and had a wig on. What caught me off guard was that Ace had the gall to give Chopper overstuffed boobs.

"What the heck, Portgas?" I sputtered. "I thought the point of making Chopper-kun join was to make him _manlier_, not girlier!"

Ace snorted. "Relax, this is all part of my plan." He shoved a digital camera in my hands. "Here. Follow my lead and we'll get our hands on a computer!"

He dragged Chopper and me two doors down the corridor from the literature clubroom (or should I call it SOS Brigade?), outside the doorway that led to the computer clubroom. Ace cast me a look, as though he was sending me a telepathic message. I just looked back up at him blankly and said, "What?"

He rolled his eyes and whispered his plan in my ear.

I gasped. "You—you can't do that!"

"Look, this might be our only chance in getting a computer, and I need your cooperation."

"You're nuts! Buy your own!" My outburst, however, went unheard as Ace barged inside the clubroom.

"What's up, people?" His voice could be heard outside the room. "We've come to collect a computer!"

The layout of the room was similar to our clubroom, but the room itself seemed a lot smaller. It was due to the large number of monitors and PC cases were placed neatly on the uniformly spaced tables. The low whirring of cooling fans resonated through the room. The five male students who had been clattering away at their keyboards all turned their heads towards the entrance to the guy who had just entered the room.

"Who's in charge here?" Ace demanded, smirking.

One of the boys stood up, a bit wary. "I'm the president of the computer club. Can I, ah, help you?"

"Do I really need to repeat myself? Give us a computer!"

The computer president flashed an expression of pure "what the hell?" face for a second and violently shook his head. "No way! We don't get enough school funding, so these computers were all bought out of our own hard-earned cash! We can't just give them out to people for free! Do you think we're idiots?"

"One can't hurt! You've got loads of computers!" Ace said this while sweeping his hand across the room.

"Now, look here—hang on, who the heck are you people, anyway?"

Ace puffed up his chest. "I am that I am! I am Portgas D. Ace, the ultimate chief of the SOS Brigade! These are my subordinates, number one and number two!"

...Subordinates? And we're _numbered_ now?

"I command you in the name of the SOS Brigade. Hand over a computer at once! No grumbling, no excuses!" Ace demanded again, taking up a domineering tone.

The president shook his head. "I have no idea who you guys are, but there's no way you're getting one of our PCs! Go buy your own!"

"Hah!" our ultimate (and moronic) chief snorted. "If you're of that mind...well...we have our ways of ensuring cooperation."

His eyes blazed with confidence. I had a baaad feeling about this.

Ace pulled Chopper by his side and grabbed the president's wrist. Then, before the two could even register what was going on, Ace smashed the president's hand against Chopper's makeshift boob. I took my cue and made a couple shots.

"WHAT THE—"

"EEEEK!"

Wow. I think Chopper thought that he was a girl for a second.

Ace then ruthlessly pushed the president on top of Chopper so that he was straddling the maid-clad boy. "Another, Kyonko," he ordered.

I obeyed, sensing a vague feeling of guilt. I think Ace's culpable ways were influencing me…

"What do you think you're doing?" the president shrieked as he managed to roll off of Chopper.

Instead of answering, Ace shook his head and tsked. "Shame on you. To think that we would catch you in such an indecent position! You better hope that the evidence right here wouldn't convince the administration to disband your little club."

"Th-that's unfair!" the president objected furiously. "I'm innocent! I'm innocent! You were the one who forced me into it!"

"Oh? And just how many people are going to believe your story? With these photos, who's gonna take your side?"

The president turned into an interesting shade of purple. "Th-The other members of the club are all witnesses to my innocence! That was against my will!"

The other four members who had been standing dumbstruck around the room all nodded their heads vehemently, shouting things like "That's right!", "Our president is innocent!", and "You'll never take our PCs!"

If Ace had listened to you, then, well, he wouldn't be Ace. "I'll just say the whole club gang-raped her!"

You could have heard a pin drop.

"T-that's stupid! We wouldn't do such a thing!"

"Really now?" Ace smiled merrily. "Let me tell you a story. A story of a poor and innocent girl, who had been passing through this hallway, who happened upon a group of sick, depraved guys. These fellas decided to entice her into their den of evil with candy and other such sweets. But lo! When she entered, she was set upon by these cruel boys who then proceeded to touch her in all sorts of uncomfortable places! But I, supremely manly chief of the SOS Brigade, arrived in the nick of time and managed to obtain evidence as to their crimes before rescuing the hapless girl! Behold, for I am now a hero!"

Ace laughed long and loud.

I think this was the point where I should check him into a mental asylum.

"But—but Portgas-kun! T-that's n-not what happened—"

Haruki lightly kicked off Chopper, who was clinging desperately to his legs, and haughtily puffed up his chest. "So? What's it gonna be? You gonna hand over a computer...or not?"

The president's face, which had gone from normal, to purple, to white over this ordeal, finally turned ashen. He had been defeated. "J... J... Just pick one and get out!" he managed to snarl, before collapsing dejectedly into a chair.

"Which one's the newest model?" asked Ace.

That's enough! You're too cold-blooded!

"Wh-Why should we tell you?" one of the members demanded.

Haruki simply pointed at me and my camera. The entire club shuddered as one.

"D-Damnit! That one!"

After examining the brand name and model number of the PC the member had indicated, Ace took a piece of paper out of his blazer pocket. "I went to the computer store yesterday and had an employee show me all the latest models," he announced. "This wasn't one of them."

How far ahead had he had everything planned out? This is getting freaking scary.

After inspecting every other computer, Ace finally pointed towards one of them. "Give us this one."

The president's face blanched. "W-Wait! We only bought that one last month!"

"Camera."

"... T-take it, you thieves!"

Like he said, we really are thieves.

After disconnecting all the cables and wires, Ace demanded that the monitor and every other little thing be moved to our clubroom and reconnected. He even had the computer club members run a LAN cable between our room and their room, and connect us to the school's domain on top of that, so that he could use the Internet! He's no better than a common criminal!

Since I was totally helpless in the face of the lunacy of Portgas D. Ace, all I could do to help the devastated Chopper was get him on his feet from kneeling on the ground and covering his face and sobbing uncontrollably.

"Let's just go back for now, okay?" I said gently. He sniffled a bit as I helped him back up.

This was so not helping Chopper becoming manly.

/00/

"You, of course!" Ace said.

I pointed to myself. "Me?"

"You've got free time, don't you? Make it!"

"What about you?"

"I'm too busy looking for more Brigade members!"

The computer had been placed on the desk with the "Brigade Commander" pyramid. Ace, who was using it to surf the net, added, "Have it finished in a day or so. We can't start doing anything without a web page."

Chopper was sprawled across the table, shoulders shivering, while Basil was seated as usual in his chair, reading his book and ignoring the world around him. So the only person actually listening to Ace was me. And as the only person listening to his insane commands, I was the only one who could comply with them. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what Ace was thinking.

"Look, even if you say that, I'm not making you a website," I deadpanned.

Haruki sighed. "Look, what about if I get you a present for it?"

...Is he being generous for once?

"I promise you'll like it!"

"...Fine," I conceded with a sigh. No, not because I wanted to take orders from Ace. Put simply, it was a website. I'd never made one before, but it sounded like fun to make, didn't it?

And that was that. The next day saw the beginning of my struggle to create a website.

/00/

Having said that, though, it really wasn't that hard at all. The guys in the computer club had already preloaded all the necessary software onto the PC, so all I needed to do was follow the instructions, do a little copy-pasting, and that was that. The problem is, though, what should I put on the website?

Right now, I still didn't know what the SOS Brigade is about, so I had absolutely no idea what to write about. After writing "Welcome to the SOS Brigade Home Page!" on the top, I simply stopped.

_"Hurry up and finish it, you hear?"_ Ace's words resounded like a curse in my ears, so I had to spend lunch break in the clubroom designing the rest of the website.

"Basil-sempai, do you have any ideas on what to write?" I asked. He seemed to come here even during lunch, as well.

"No," he said, not even looking up. I know this was none of my business, but does he even pay attention in class?

Turning my eyes from Basil back to the monitor, I had a sudden thought. What would happen if the school discovered that a yet-to-be-recognized student Brigade was using their bandwidth to host a website?

"Eh, don't worry!" I imagined Ace replying, "If they do find out, we'll just abandon the whole thing. First come, first served, you know?"

Curse him and his happy-go-lucky attitude!

I added a free website counter and our email address and uploaded the website, which consisted of one page with no actual content on it. There, that should satisfy him! After making sure the page could actually load, I closed all the programs and shut down the PC. As I reached out to stretch my aching hands, I was startled to find Basil standing right behind me.

"Here." He held out a thick novel to me. I accepted it and recognized the cover—it was the same book that he read a few days ago."For you."

After that brief statement, he turned and left the room before I had time to refuse, or even to react properly. What was this? Some kind of confession or something?

As the bell rang for the end of lunch, I was left alone in the empty classroom. Guess I was surrounded by people who didn't really respect my opinion.

Great…

I carried the novel all the way back to the classroom and took my seat, only to feel somebody give a hard tug to my ponytail. Ouch.

"Is the website done?" Ace held the edges of his desk and stared at me with a slightly sullen look on his face. I noticed he'd been scribbling all over his textbook; I feigned casualness to try and avoid the stares of my classmates.

"It's done, sure, but... uh... it's kind of crap."

"Good enough for now. We only really need the e-mail address, anyway."

"Why don't you just register for one of those free e-mail addresses, then?" I said.

"That wouldn't do! What if people flooded my inbox?'

"How would a newly-made e-mail account get flooded with mail so quickly?"

"Top secret!" He went from sullen to smiling cunningly. Gave me the creeps.

/00/

It was after school. I had major misgivings about the entire thing, so why were my legs still carrying me towards the clubroom? While I was making such metaphysical observations, I found myself already outside the door.

"Hey," I greeted the people inside.

Naturally, Basil was already sitting there, along with Chopper. I'm not one to talk, but those two certainly have a lot of free time on their hands.

Chopper greeted me with an obvious look of relief on his face. Guess being stuck in a room alone with Basil could be awkward. Understandable.

"Where's Portgas-kun?" Chopper inquired, sounding a tad nervous.

"Who knows? I haven't seen him since sixth period. He's probably gone to steal more equipment from somewhere..."

"W-will I be forced to—to do something like yesterday a-again?"

Seeing his brow creased with worry, I tried to be as gentle as possible. "Don't worry. If he tries anything strange again, I'll do everything in my power to stop him! I'm not as strong as he is, but I'm sure I can get him to listen to me."

Chopper broke into a bright smile. "Thank you so much!" he said, giving a cute bow. I felt sorely tempted to throw my arms around him. "I'm counting on you, then!"

"Hey, no worries," I said.

My assurances might have counted for something, though, if they hadn't lasted as long as a baseless theory, a house of cards, or perhaps a water droplet on the surface of the sun. Within five minutes, my assurances had all been thrown straight out the window. I am _such_ an idiot!

"Hey," Ace said, entering the room with two bags. "Sorry for the delay."

Placing the paper bags on the ground, he turned and locked the door. Chopper reflexively shuddered upon hearing the door click. Is he like a trained animal that's learned to expect impending doom when hearing that noise?

"What are you planning today, Portgas? And before you start, I'm putting my foot down! We're not getting involved in any more theft or blackmail!" I said, trying to imitate his imperious tone. I was failing, of course.

He quirked a brow. "What are you talking about? I'd never do something like that!"

I pointed at the computer.

"Those guys willingly gave it to us."

Yeah, sure thing. Give us the computer or face blackmail.

"Moving along…" He pulled out a stack of papers from one of the bags. They were covered in handwriting. "These fliers will spread the Word of the SOS Brigade to everyone! Believe me, it took me a lot of hard work to sneak into the photocopying room and print these two-hundred fliers!"

Ace handed out the fliers to us. So that's what he was doing during sixth period? He should count himself lucky that he didn't get caught! I bet the teachers were already wondering what happened to all the paper in the photocopier.

I didn't spare a glance at the flier when Ace made another exclamation. "Right, it's time to go hand them out now!"

"What? Where?"

"At the school gate, of course! There should be plenty of students heading home right now!"

Yes, yes, yes, whatever you say, Ace. But as I was picking up the bag of fliers, he stopped me.

"Don't you worry about it. I only need Chopper for this job!"

"Eh?"

Chopper, who was still half-way through reading a flier, looked up, puzzled. Ace rummaged through the other bag and suddenly pulled out another item. "Voila!"

It was a bunny suit. Fur and head and everything. Its cartoonish eyes were scary-looking.

"Don't tell me that you're forcing him to wear _that_," I said, totally wearied by Ace's antics.

"He's wearing the pink version. This blue version is mine," he corrected.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Chopper. Sure, the bunny suit beat the maid costume (I think). I mean, if I'm considering male pride here, it was tons better! But Chopper didn't think about it, anyway. He was trembling and horror filled his eyes as though he was experiencing mental trauma.

"Portgas, I don't think that Chopper-kun should wear that," I said.

"Why not?" he retorted.

"Because he's still scarred from yesterday's fiasco, you dolt." I folded my arms, making sure that I looked stern like Kuro-sensei. "Leave him out of this."

Ace looked as though he was about to protest, but then closed his mouth and looked thoughtful. "How about you wear it then?" he suggested, his eyes glinting.

I sputtered. "What, are you crazy—"

Chopper wrapped his skinny arms around my waist, looking up at me with wide and teary eyes. "Please!" he sobbed. "Please! I'll be ruined for marriage!"

"…I'll do it," I said solemnly. "I'll wear the bunny suit."

And that was how I ended up being an oversized rabbit while handing out fliers.


	3. Is

Ace dashed out of class by the time the bell rang, saying something about the new student who transferred into our school. I didn't hear anything about it, so I'm guessing that the student could have been an upperclassman. Still, how did Ace got word of it? Ah, whatever. It doesn't matter.

I slung my bag over my shoulder and dragged my feet to the old complex, feeling a similar wave of weariness. Gee, I wonder what's going to happen today. Hmm, maybe Ace'll drag us to the drama club and pillage it for its costumes, and then later force Chopper to wear them. Ugh, the very thought of it made me depressed. I then remembered when I volunteered to take Chopper's place of passing fliers, which meant that I had to dress up in a bunny suit, which made me even more depressed.

Apparently, because my mind was so rattled with such negative thoughts that I ended up shuffling the whole way. By the time I reached to the club, everyone had been there along with someone new. I was met with Ace's scowl as he marched up to my face and grabbed my ponytail.

"Ow, you jerk!" I hissed, trying to pull back. "What's with you always yanking my hair?"

"You're late, Kyonko," Ace said in a disapproving tone. Oh, as if he had the right to use that voice with me. And besides, wasn't he late to come to the club on a daily basis? "You even missed my introduction to our final member!"

While Ace rambled on about his nonsense, my eyes drifted to the newcomer. He was a tall, lean boy with tanned skin. The first few features that I instantly noticed were the dark circles around his eyes and that deceptively laid-back smile. He looked back at me and shot me a welcoming smile, which caused my internal organs to flip-flop with unease. There was something off with this guy…

I figured that Ace already considered Basil to be part of the SOS Brigade since he regarded this newcomer as the "final member", and a club needed five or more members. However, despite how relieved I was for our chief to finally cool down and stop his kidnappings, I found myself not quite taking up to this transfer student—he gotta be a transfer student since Ace made a huge deal about not having one as a member. I wasn't sure what put me off—was it the creepy smile or the tired yet calculative eyes?

"Anyway," Ace's voice penetrated through my thoughts, "this is Trafalgar Law who transferred into class 2-5."

"Please, just call me Law," Law said in a polite voice.

"And this is Kyonko," Ace continued, gesturing at me.

I licked my lips nervously and gave a small bow. "Nice to meet you, Law-sempai."

"Likewise."

"Alright!" Ace cheered, punching the air. "All five members! Just enough to make a club! Kyonko, did you start on that registration paper?"

I blinked. "What? But—"

"Work on it! I'll be giving Law a tour." With that said, he hooked his arm with the older boy's and stalked out of the room. I smacked my forehead and inwardly cursed Portgas. What did he see me as? A frickin' secretary?

Later, Chopper excused himself because he had plans to carry on, so it was just me and Basil. Staying in the room would be no different than staying in an empty one since all Basil did was read, read, and read. So I picked up my bag and bid him farewell.

"I'll be going then, sempai," I said.

"Have you read the book?"

I looked up, startled by the unexpected question. "H-huh? Oh, you mean the back that you lent me the other day?"

"Correct," he said, locking his eyes with mine.

"Oh. I haven't read it yet," I admitted with a bit of embarrassment. "Maybe I should just give it back to you—"

"There is no need." He never minces his words, does he? Just gets straight to the point. "Read it today. As soon as you get home." His voice even had an overtone of command to it.

Well, if he really wanted me to read the book, I guess I should… "Alright, alright, I'll read it when I get home," I promised.

Acknowledging me with the tiniest of nods, Basil returned to his book.

And that's why I was pedaling my bike as hard as I could.

I got home after my little conversation with Basil and went straight to my room after dinner to get a start on that novel he had lent me. Or shoved into my face. Whatever. I barely gave the book a glance; by the time I got home, I just threw the book to a corner and intended on giving it back to him later. But now I've got the feeling that he would've known that I've actually read it or not.

I plucked the novel from my desk and eyed the cover. The illustration was an explosion of what seemed to be fireworks and magic and cards and stuff. Just as I was beginning to drown in the sea of words, I decided to just flip through the book quickly to see if I could ever finish the thing. As I quickly leafed through the pages, a bookmark fluttered out onto the carpet.

It was a strange looking bookmark with a fancy border made out of abstract patterns. When I flipped it over, I found a line of words on the back: "Seven o'clock tonight, waiting for you in the park outside the station."

The words were neat and precise, as though they had been printed out from a word processor. I don't know for sure, but it certainly looks like the sort of handwriting Basil would have.

I had this book for days now. Was this message asking me to meet with Basil at seven o'clock tonight? Or was it meant for the night that he'd given me the book? Could it be that he had been waiting in the park every night until I found the bookmark and turned up? That might be why he told me to read it tonight, because he was tired of waiting for me to find the bookmark. But then why wouldn't he just ask me directly? It's not like I was the kind of person to emit an unapproachable aura, right?

I still didn't know why he would want to call me to the park... I glanced at my watch; it was just past six forty-five. Even on a bike it'd take around twenty minutes for me to get to the station.

I thought about it for about ten seconds.

Shoving the bookmark in a pocket of my jeans, I dashed out of the room and down the stairs like a rabbit. I ran by my brother coming out of the kitchen with some ice cream ("Hey, where you going, Kyonko?" "Mind your own business!"), unchained my bike, and set off, flipping on the light with my foot.

If Basil wasn't there, I was going to have to laugh at myself. Very loudly.

Well, I didn't get that luxury.

I tried to remain in brightly-lit places, which meant that I arrived at the small park outside the station at around ten past seven. There weren't many people around at this time of night, which did nothing to soothe my worries. Leaving behind the noises of the trains and of distant cars, I wheeled my bike along and entered the park.

Under the lights of the uniformly-spaced lamp posts, I could just make out a faint silhouette of a person sitting quietly on a bench; Basil Hawkins, barely visible in the gloom. If I hadn't been looking for him, I probably wouldn't have given him a second glance. He was so still that a passerby could have mistaken him for a statue. Basil rose slowly as I approached, a bit like a string puppet. I noticed he was still wearing his school uniform.

"...Hey, sempai. Well... um, sorry if I'm late..."

A nod.

"Were you waiting for me yesterday, too?" I asked guiltily.

Another nod.

"Couldn't you have told me whatever it is you wanted to tell me at school?"

"This way."

With those two words, he turned and strode off. He walked like a ninja; you couldn't hear a single footstep. I could only reluctantly follow behind Basil, who was fading into the darkness the further away from me he got.

"Are you angry with me for making you wait?" I asked, stumbling to keep up with his longer strides.

"No."

I wasn't sure I could believe him, but I couldn't detect any sort of emotion from his voice. I shook my head from the thought and launched another question. "Uh, excuse me, but where exactly are we going?"

"My home."

Wait, what?

I froze in my tracks, dropping my bike on the pavement. Why is he bringing me to his house, after calling me out here so suddenly? Was this some sort of bizarre courtship ritual? Was he just asking me out? Aren't there supposed to be, like, preliminaries before this kind of thing?

He sensed my hesitation, and looked back at me questioningly.

"Aren't we going a little too fast?" I said, backing away a bit. "In all sorts of ways, I mean."

"Do not worry. No one else is home."

That made me worry even more!

I kept my eyes on Basil's back, not quite sure why I was still following him. Maybe it's because he didn't seem to be the type to take advantage of girls. And he was rather ignorant of what has been going on ever since Ace took over his clubroom, which meant that anything he felt that was important enough to tell me had to be absolutely incredible.

A few minutes of walking and watching his hair billow gently in the wind later, we found ourselves standing outside a large apartment building fairly near the station.

Basil took out a card and brushed it against the sensor; the glass door slid smoothly open. I hurriedly locked my bicycle by the entrance and quickly followed Nagato, who politely kept the door open for me. I stepped into the elevator after him, running all sorts of unnecessary scenarios through my mind.

Alright, I knew that Basil wasn't the sort of guy who would…do things to girls, but I should have at least brought my phone with me! I could be leading myself to something—something dangerous for all I knew!

Basil seemed to have something on his mind as well, but, as usual, said nothing, merely staring at the floor number as it slowly increased. The elevator finally arrived at the seventh floor and we disembarked, walking silently down the corridor to a room. He unlocked the door and held it open for me.

"Enter," he said.

I tried not to twitch.

I stepped in and took off my shoes, but I jumped a bit when he shut the door behind him. Well, there was no escaping now. I felt like I was trapped on the ship of the Dread Pirate Roberts.

"Follow," Basil said, removing his shoes as well. If the apartment had been dark I would have had an excuse to make a break for it or lock myself in the bathroom or something, but alas, it was illuminated quite brightly. All that light actually made the room feel even larger... and emptier.

This must be one of those posh condominiums that cost a fortune to rent, especially considering how close it was to the station. Then why did it feel as though nobody lived here? For example, the living room had only a kotatsu with no other decorations or furniture. There were no curtains on the windows and no carpet over the wooden tiles.

"Sit down," he said, before disappearing into the kitchen without bothering to see if I obeyed. I knelt down beside the table, wondering if I should just try and leave. Before I could make up my mind, Basil returned bearing a tray. Moving like a marionette, he set it down on the table without a word, and diffidently seated himself across the table from me.

Silence.

Awkward.

He didn't even pour the tea. He just sat there, looking at me expressionlessly. Maybe he expected me to pour it for us? I reached towards the teapot, but Basil suddenly had it in one hand before I could grab it, as though he had suddenly remembered something. He began to pour some tea into a cup.

I looked around as of distraction. "Erm... where's your family?"

"Not here."

"I can see that..." I mumbled. "Have they gone out?"

"I am the only one who has ever been here."

That was the longest sentence I had ever heard from him.

"Are you...are you living on your own?"

"That is correct."

Whoa, a high school student living alone in a high-class apartment? There must be loads of complicated reasons behind this, and I didn't know whether Basil wanted me to pry too deeply. "Well, um, what...what do you want of me?"

He ignored my question and pushed the cup of tea over towards me. "Drink."

I looked at the teacup apprehensively. Was the tea safe to drink? Well, this was Basil. He wouldn't put something into the tea to take advantage of me, right? Even though I didn't know him that well, I just felt that he didn't seem like he was that kind of person.

"You dislike tea?" he inquired, although he didn't sound particularly curious at all.

"Oh, no...It's just that..." my voice trailed off. I sat there uncomfortably under the older boy's gaze. It's not that I don't trust him...but a guy asking a girl to come to his house so suddenly when there's nobody else there? And the first thing he does is offer her some tea without any explanation? It's too suspicious. It's way too suspicious. But there was no way I was going to say that to his face.

"Look, forget the tea," I said finally. "Could you please just tell me why you've brought me here?"

Basil paused and returned to his seat, as though he were a rewinding videotape. He looked at me silently, still not opening his mouth. This time, though it felt like he was trying to figure out how to bring the subject up. Was he looking for the right words, or trying to build some sort of inner courage?

"What is it you can't say at school?" I prompted.

He finally moved his lips. "It is about Portgas D. Ace." he said, straightening his back elegantly. "And myself."

Okay…

"What about Portgas and you?" I said.

This was the point where I first perceived any hint of a major emotion on Basil's stoic face—he looked troubled or hesitant. But you had to be observing him closely to even notice; his expressive face had only the most subtle difference from his expressionless face.

Then…he pulled out a deck of cards. He began shuffling the cards a couple times before setting the stack onto the table. Picking the first card on the deck, his eyes skimmed over it and set it separately from the rest, murmuring, "Twenty-two percent of comprehension through visual."

Another card. "Forty-one percent of comprehension through auditory."

Another card. "Fifteen percent of comprehension if message is delayed."

And another. "Twelve percent of no comprehension."

He looked up at me with resolve.

Alrighty then…

"It is difficult to convey completely through words," Basil said. "There may be errors in the transmission of data. Regardless, listen to me."

And so…he began to talk.

"Portgas D. Ace and I are not ordinary humans."

And he's gone from being socially awkward to ultimately weird. I knew that Basil was limited in conversing, but did he really have to start with that?

"I had kind of noticed that already," I said carefully.

"You misunderstand," Basil continued, fixating those pale eyes straight into my dark ones. "I do not mean unusual in terms of deviation of universally accepted personality traits. I mean precisely what I said. I mean that he and I are not ordinary human beings like you."

What on earth was he trying to say?

"The Integrated Data Sentient Organization, which oversees this galaxy, has created a Parallel Conscious Transplant Entity in order to acquire data here. That entity is me."

"..."

"My task is to observe Portgas D. Ace and upload all data obtained to the Integrated Data Sentient Organization."

"..."

"I have performed this function since my arrival to this universe a year ago, replacing the former entity who was my predecessor. In the last couple years of Portgas D. Ace's lifetime, no particularly unusual elements were documented. The situation was very stable. However, recently an external factor has now appeared nearby Portgas D. Ace that cannot be ignored."

"..."

"And that factor...would be you."

"…Uhhh," was all I could say.

"To put it simply, I am from an organization from another universe that was established for the sake of attaining data from your universe, this earth. This organization, the Integrated Data Sentient Organization, transmits recipients to accumulate information and deliver it back to the organization. During this, the organization had stumbled upon an issue that distorted all fundamental understanding of this universe.

"Approximately five years ago, a data flare unlike any other appeared on the surface of this planet. An explosion of data erupted from a region on a bow-shaped archipelago, instantly covered the surface of the entire planet, and began to spread into space. And at the center of this data spike was a single individual. Portgas D. Ace.

"Neither the cause nor the effect are known. The Integrated Data Sentient Organization is unable to fully process the new data being created. Furthermore, while humans are highly limited in the amount of data they can retain, Portgas D. Ace was able to create a massive data flare on his own.

"Portgas D. Ace continues to broadcast torrents of information at completely random intervals. Moreover, he himself appears to be unaware of this. Over the past five years, we have conducted various investigations on this individual from all possible perspectives and resulted in one only answer: he is a soul fragment pieced to the original."

A soul fragment of what?

"There is a high probability that he also possesses the ability to control data in his surrounding environment," Basil went on. "That is why I am here. That is why you are here."

"Hold up." I interrupted, my mind blurred and confused. "I'll be frank: I really have no idea what you're talking about. Well, more so on the part where Portgas is a fragment to something."

"He is a soul fragment to the original," he reiterated. "This Portgas D. Ace, fifteen years ago to now, has never been an entity of his own."

…What?

"Our historian had informed that Portgas D. Ace had been found on the doorstep of an orphanage, was adopted by Monkey D. Garp, and was raised alongside Money D. Luffy. Portgas D. Ace had experienced a typically average life until, by the age of ten, he had experienced a connection to his original self, and thus the data flare.

"For you to understand, there are two universes situated in the cosmetic system. Both galaxies have a void membrane as a barrier that experience tension when revolving in a rotational manner. It had been theorized that the original Portgas D. Ace somehow had his fragmented data pass through the membranes, planting itself into this universe. While the original and the fragment are stabilized, the fragment's data flare is in linked with the original's, unbalancing the system."

The way Basil was referring Ace as a fragment left me unsettled. It sounded as though Ace was some kind of robot with programmed actions. That was what Basil was basically saying, right?

"I don't think I find much sense in this either," I said slowly. "Another universe? Portgas being a fragment? An organization?"

"Parallel universe," he said.

"Parallel universe."

He nodded.

I took a breath. "Okay, so let's say that I believe all this garbage about you being an alien from another world and there's this Data Sentient whatchamacallit. Just…why me?"

"You have been chosen by Portgas D. Ace. Whether he is aware of it or not, his consciousness influences the world around him. There must be a reason as to why you have been chosen."

"No, there's no reason!"

"There is. You have been chosen by Portgas D. Ace," Basil repeated. "Perhaps for him, you play some pivotal role. You and he hold all of potential within your grasp."

"…Are you serious?"

"Completely." Basil looked down at his lap. "I also convey a warning."

"A warning?"

"As his chosen one, there will come a time where you will be sucked into my universe."

"What? But how?"

"The organization assumed that the unbalance would upset the galactic construction, naturally sucking you in as it would recognize you as the holder for Portgas D. Ace."

Yeah, I think I'll just stop thinking about this nonsense now.

For the first time, I found myself carefully studying Basil's face. I had initially been marveling that Mr. Silent here had decided to speak at all, but then out came this winding, freakish flood of words and nonsense. I had known he was a little odd, but I would never have guessed that he was absolutely crazy.

Integrated Data Sentient Organization? Parallel Conscious Transplant Entity?

Give me a break!

"Look," I said, moving to stand, "you should probably tell this directly to Portgas. He'd be delighted. Me, I'm not interested in this kinda stuff at all. Sorry."

"The majority of the organization speculates that if Portgas D. Ace becomes self-aware of his abilities, unforeseen consequences may occur. Therefore, at this stage the situation may only be observed."

"But there's a chance I might tell all of this to him!" I groaned. "Why tell me?"

"He will not accept the data you feed him as completely accurate," Basil replied blankly.

"Eh?"

"Clarification: He will not believe you."

...He's got a point.

"I am not the only Parallel Conscious Transplant Entity placed on this earth by the Integrated Data Sentient Organization. The majority of the organization intends to take a proactive role and observe the results. You are the key to Portgas D. Ace. When crisis approached, I will look to you first."

Yeah, I don't think so.

"Sorry, Basil-sempai, but count me out of whatever business you had in mind. Thanks for the tea, anyway." As I prepared myself to leave, Basil lowered his eyes again, but now staring at his cards. The book that he gave me had something to do with tarot cards—I wonder if he's interested in that kind of stuff. But either way, I don't think that he could hide the fact that he was actually…

...lonely.

I slipped my shoes on, leaning against the doorframe. Aliens, huh? That's what Basil was hinting all along, mentioning things like belonging to another galaxy or something.

If it was true, though...that meant that the sort of strange being, the paranormal mysteries that Ace was so obsessed with had been right under his nose the entire time. How ironic.

"Hey," I said. He looked up. "If you're going to make me come out at all hours of the night, the least you can do is walk me home."

If he had been anyone else, he probably would have looked surprised. As it was, he said, in that same monotone he used for everything, "That is unnecessary. The crime rate in this city is not exce—"

"Humour me," I interrupted dryly.

/00/

In a way that perfectly coincided with the way my life had been going lately, my little brother opened the door for me when I arrived home.

"Oh, it's you. Why were you—" Wataru's eyes widened when he took notice of Basil. "Ooh, I get it! You were out with a boy!"

I was about to protest, but the moment the brat's face split into a grin I knew that I had to take over the role of being the big sister. So before he could try to run off while singing delightedly, "I'm telling!", I grabbed the back of his shirt and exclaimed, "Chocolate ice cream!"

"What?"

I'm sure I made a face that looked as though I swallowed a particularly bad lemon. "From that stand across the bakery. You pass it every day when you come home from school; you stare at it all the time… I'll buy you chocolate ice cream every day for a week."

His eyes sparkled. "Including the weekend?"

"Fine. Whatever."

"It's a deal!" Wataru said, bouncing on his heels.

By the way, through all of this, Basil was just standing there like a statue, watching this like watching paint dry. Yeah, I shouldn't have listened to my conscience and accompany him.

/00/

When Dad asked me where I'd been, I gave a vague, noncommittal answer and went straight up to my room. Lying on my bed, I mused over what Basil told me.

If I believed what he had said, that made Basil not of this world. An alien. Wouldn't that be a surprise, though? The very thing Ace had been searching for all this time right under his nose.

My eye fell upon the thick novel that I had thrown on the corner of the bed. I picked it up with the bookmark and had a glimpse at the cover art before placing it by my pillow.

Basil probably never talks to anyone in his class, imprisoning himself within his own mind. Jeez, won't he ever break out of that shell of his? He ought to just put down his book, get out and make some friends, and enjoy a wonderful school life. That poker face has got to go, too. I bet he'd look kinda cool if he'd just smile.

I thought about returning the book to him tomorrow…but you know what? Forget about it. I already have so I might as well just finish reading it.

/00/

In the clubroom, Ace stood up with an imposing figure on one of the chairs.

"We've already done a lot of work! Thanks to our distribution of informative materials and the establishment of the official SOS Brigade webpage, our reputation in the school has already soared sky-high and pierced the heavens! Therefore, I hereby declare phase one of my plan...to be a great success!"

By great success, it was really notoriety. Ranging from the countless costumes that he forced on poor Chopper, we've definitely gained notoriety.

"But our inbox has yet to receive a single email about any mysterious events!" the chief continued. "And nobody's come forwards to discuss their concerns with us about their experiences!"

Stupid. Reputation alone won't help us. Besides, we don't have reputation—we have notoriety, just like how I mentioned it before. Nobody would want to get involved with us—ever. And the school doesn't even recognize the existence of this club anyway.

"There used to be a saying that 'patience is a virtue'," Ace said loudly, glaring ferociously at all of us with a zeal that was bordering on the terrifying, "but since then, times have changed. Even if we have to reverse the direction the world spins, even if we have to drill through the clouds instead of the ground, we will seek them out! We will find what we seek by ourselves! So, everybody! Let's begin searching!"

"...What exactly are we looking for?" I chose to ask. Nobody else had said anything, so I decided to ask myself. I do hope it's a wheat thresher. I could totally use a wheat thresher right about now.

He smirked. "To find all the mysterious events of this world!"

And then what?

"As long as we try hard, we should be able to find at least one or two events in this town!"

Oh brother.

I displayed my reluctance plainly. Law only smiled enigmatically. Basil remained expressionless as always. Chopper didn't seem to bother protesting and only appearing tired. He looked how I feel.

Ignoring everyone's reactions, Ace waved his arms and yelled, "This Saturday, tomorrow! We'll meet outside the North Station before nine in the morning! Don't be late! Absentees will be punished!"

With that said, he dismissed today's meeting. Before I exited out the door, I took a quick glance at Basil, who was situated by the window while reading. I remembered our discussion from before, but it was hard to believe that it just happened.

Additionally, I don't think what Basil said was true… About Ace being a fragment of his parallel self from this other universe, or so Basil had tried to elaborate. If Ace wasn't an entity of his own, then how could he be able to eat, breathe, frown, complain, laugh, yell…? He had all the elements of what makes a human human, so why would Basil say that he's just merely a soul fragment?

Ugh. Whatever.


	4. That

Whoever heard about meeting up at nine in the morning on a _weekend_? Well, jokes on me since I was actually following Ace's dumb instructions and was pedaling like a madwoman just trying to get to the station in time.

I carelessly discarded my bicycle somewhere near the bank and ran to the turnstiles at the North Entrance. It was still five minutes to nine, according to my watch, but, apparently, everyone had arrived already before me.

Ace turned to look at me and pointed at me. "You're late! Penalty!"

"It's not even nine yet!" I protested breathily.

"The last person to come is late," he sneered, "and latecomers have to be punished! That is the rule."

My brow twitched. "And why have I just heard of this rule now?"

"Oh, that. I just made it up now!" Ace grinned contemptuously at me. "So, your penalty! You're going to have to treat all of us to drinks!"

Portgas, you lowest of the low! Are you seriously making a girl pay for your little outing?

Despite his harsh words, Ace was visibly excited about the SOS Brigade's first out-of-school gathering. He was dressed in a loose white shirt and brown jacket with jeans, and he looked like a typical trendy teenager out for a good time. I pitied any girl who tried to flirt with him today based on that deceptive appearance.

While Chopper and Law managed to wear anything casual and nice, Basil… Heck, why was he donning his school uniform?

I sighed and dragged my feet after the group. And then that was when I noticed that I was the only girl amid a cluster of four boys. I could envision a fourteen-year-old Kuina being thrilled to be in such position (Kuina grew out of her hormonal stage by the next year), but, to be honest, I rather go hang out with the computer club geeks.

While I enjoyed being with Chopper, despite him looking cuter than the average girl, the others really got under my skin in all sorts of ways. Ace was pretty self-explanatory. Basil, on the other hand, was a silent trekker, spouting things what he deemed as important, but I guess he was alright. Law really creeped me out. He really got down the whole mysterious transfer student image since I can't figure him out; he seemed to hide himself being a laidback smile of a mask.

You'd think that the guys would be gentlemanlike and offer to pay for me, but none of them spoke! Well, except for Chopper, but he said it with nervous reluctance, probably fearing that Ace would snap at him for helping me out. In the end, Ace did snap at him, and then made him choose a parfait.

By the time we took over one table in a little café, I found my wallet dismally empty afterwards.

"We are to split into two parties. If any of us find anything mysterious, we're to contact each other by phone and meet up to discuss what to do next. Once it's all over, a debriefing would be held to review and prepare for future developments," explained our chief.

Ace then grabbed five toothpicks from the toothpick stand, and marked two of them using a pen he'd borrowed from the waiter. He wrapped his hand around them, concealing the marked or unmarked ends, and thrust his fist out at us to draw.

Inwardly, I prayed fervently that I wouldn't end up with Ace. You know how terrible that'd be if that were to happen? It would be very, very terrible.

So, when it was my turn to draw a toothpick, I braced myself and pulled one out of Ace's grip. It was marked.

And so was Chopper's.

Before I could break into a mental cheer, Ace's eyes were filled with cold fire. "Chopper!" he snapped. "You better take this seriously, you understand?"

Chopper's eyes widened. "Y-yes!"

Then Ace leveled his frightening glare onto me. "The same goes for you, Kyonko."

I felt my back stiffened. "Right…"

Man, what's up with Ace now?

"What exactly are we looking for?" Law inquired, his hand supporting his rested cheek.

Ace looked pleased that someone had asked that question. "Anything that looks suspicious! Anybody or anything that looks unusual! Look for portals that seem like they lead into different dimensions, or people who look like aliens disguised as humans!"

I nearly swallowed the gum that I was chewing, startled by his sudden outburst that practically caused my left ear to go deaf. Strangely, Chopper looked as though he inhaled a bug. Basil was impassive as always.

"I see, I see..," Law said slowly.

_What_ do you see?

"So then, all we have to do is look for aliens, time-travelers, and espers, and any traces they may have left behind on Earth. I understand entirely," Law continued, now sounding vaguely amused.

"Exactly! Law has it exactly correct! Everyone should learn from him!" Ace declared, smiling widely.

Oh great, now we have a suck-up. Thanks so much, Law.

Our chief leapt to his feet and fisted the air. "Alrighty then! Let's roll out!"

XOXOXO

Ace unnecessarily threatened Chopper in graphic detail about what would happen if the search for extra-terrestrial life somehow turned into anything approaching _romantic_. He needn't have bothered going that far; Chopper was shaking in fear after the first few sentences.

Ace headed off east with Basil and Law, throwing a few suspicious glances back at us as they departed. Chopper and I were supposed to go west. Despite Ace's instructions, I still wasn't sure what to look for. Jeez, as if this wasn't complicated enough…

I turned to Chopper and smiled. "What should we do?"

Chopper looked at me nervously. Great, now he's scared of me. Thank you for making my job easier, Portgas.

I considered going home, ditching this stupid outing, but Ace made it clear that we had to come back to have lunch—no doubt that he'll find some reason for me to take another penalty.

I pretended to be contemplating on what we should do before telling him, "It's pointless to stand around here doing nothing, so let's just take a bit of a walk."

"Okay," Chopper agreed, and he then smiled.

I tried to imagine what we must look like to those who passed by as we strolled down a path by the riverbank. Chopper wasn't really that tall, so we probably matched each other well. Then again, maybe people would think that I was his older sister due to his youthful appearance. Well, if I were to have Chopper as my little brother, I wouldn't complain; he was probably a lot less annoying than my actual little brother.

If we had come down here about a month ago, we would have been able to see the cherry blossoms blooming, but, alas, it was now just a plain riverside walk. Still, it was a popular spot for couples and families, so the place was a little crowded. But Chopper and I were probably the only people out here on this nice spring day, just looking for aliens by the river.

"Oh, there's an ice cream stand over there!" Chopper suddenly remarked. When he turned to me, his bright smile vanished to a sheepish blush. "W-would you like some?"

I couldn't help but smile. "Sure!"

Chopper was so kind as to buy one for me too. We took our cones and went to a bench, trying to lick away the frozen treat before it melted under the sunny weather. Chopper looked as though he was in pure bliss as he lapped his ice cream. "Mmmm!"

I guess he really liked sweets.

"Chopper-kun...there's a bit of ice-cream on your nose."

"Oh!" He wiped it off, blushing. Aw, he was so cute! Like a little kid!

When we finished taking our break, we continued walking around. We exchanged bits of small talk along the way, relaxing into the calm atmosphere and the absence of Ace in general.

"You know, it's kind of funny how we're searching for things like aliens and the like," I mentioned absently.

"Hmm? Why?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really. It's just that Basil-sempai told me something weird a couple days ago. He said he was an alien. So it'd be kinda funny if—"

Chopper stopped short.

"…It...was...true?" I trailed off, finishing my sentence, though I grew uncertain. "Uh, Chopper-kun?"

He gulped a few times, and stared at me in total shock. Uh oh.

"Kyonko-san…" he said softly, just staring at me for a second. Then something like determination flashed in his eyes. Bracing himself, he looked directly into my eyes and said, "I th-think I have something to t-tell you."

He led me to a bench by the sakura trees and we sat down, but, for a long time, Chopper didn't speak. He still looked like he was composing himself for something momentous. I could just make out his voice, muttering to himself, "Where s-should I begin? I'm no good at explaining things... M-maybe she just w-won't believe me..."

Finally he lifted his head and began to talk in a slightly uncomfortable tone.

"I'm... not from this time, not from this age," he said, not quite looking directly at me. "I'm a time-traveler. From the future. I'm—I'm forbidden to tell you when I came from or from which temporal plane. I wouldn't be able to even if I wanted to, anyway. Before coming to this time, I had to undergo mental conditioning if I were to ever reveal something forbidden."

When I didn't speak, he continued. "People assume that time is a strict progression from cause to effect, but, actually, from a nonlinear and non-subjective viewpoint, each time frame is made up of different flat planes."

"You…lost me at 'strict progression'," I said.

"Hmm." He lost his nervousness and looked thoughtful at my question. "How about this? Imagine it like a cartoon. When watching a cartoon, you see the characters within move seamlessly, but you know that it's just an illusion created by a series of still images. So time is a bit like that—a digitalized version. If I were to use a series of still images lie that as a description, perhaps it'll help you to understand better.

"So, between every single time frame and another, there are these things called temporal fault lines. They exist, but the frequency of these fault lines is near zero, so there's no continuity between different time frames. Time traveling is the attempt to make a three-dimensional movement between the two-dimensional temporal planes. So for me, because I've arrived from the future into this temporal plane, it's like adding an extra object onto the still images of an animation.

"Even if I were to attempt to change the future, nothing would happen in the future that I came from, because of the lack of continuity between time planes. Everything would only change in this temporal frame. So it's like trying to add a few words onto a still image from the hundreds of still images needed for an animation—the overall story doesn't change.

"Time is unlike this river here; it's not analogue, linear progressive events; it's a series of digitalized temporal planes. Do you follow me?"

I hesitated on whether to clamp one hand to my forehead; eventually, I did. Temporal planes? Digitalization? I had no idea what temporal planes meant, and I couldn't figure out how digitalization could fit in all this…oh wait, he was using it as an example… But…But...a time-traveler?

Chopper glanced down at his shoes, took another breath, and continued. "Let me explain why I've come to this temporal plane..."

A couple with a young child passed us as Chopper began to explain. "Five years ago, we detected the occurrence of a huge time quake. It was…coincidentally five years ago from today. But when we attempted to travel back to investigate, we ran into something—a source wall. We were unable to travel back any further than five years ago."

Five years… Why does that sound familiar?

"We came to the conclusion that a massive temporal fault-line had been created, but we had no idea why it only appeared at that specific time-frame. It's only recently that we discovered the reason... recently relative to me, I mean."

"What caused this time quake?" I inquired, feeling dreaded anticipation clutching me.

"We hypothesized that...that it was Portgas D. Ace."

Ugh. Those weren't the words I wanted to hear, but it was to be expected nonetheless.

"He's located right at the nexus of the time quake. Please don't ask why; the knowledge is forbidden. But we're certain that it is Portgas D. Ace who has blocked access to the past from that point onwards."

"I…I don't think that Portgas is...is capable of doing that," I mumbled.

"Neither did I," he said, not meeting my gaze. "Honestly, it's supposed to be impossible for a normal human to interfere with the temporal planes. It's still an unsolved mystery, and Portgas-kun himself seems unaware that he is the source of temporal distortions and the time quake...

"I've been sent here to Portgas-kun's side so I can better observe the changes to the temporal planes in his presence. Um...I think the best word for it that you currently have is 'surveillance'. Um, yes...I'm on surveillance duty. It's also why I'm prohibited from involving myself with anyone. It's too risky."

"..." I was too speechless to respond.

Chopper fidgeted. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"No, no I don't," I said, placing my hand on my head again. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because you have been chosen by Portgas-kun."

Basil said the same thing before…

"I can't go into the details, but, if I've guessed correctly, you're a very important person to him. There's a reason behind everything that he does."

Yeah, his so-called master plan or whatever...

"Then Basil-sempai and Law-sempai are...?" I prompted.

"They have similar goals that I have, but Portgas-kun is still unaware that he is the one who has gathered us to his side."

"Then do you know what they are?"

"Classified information."

"What would happen if we just leave Portgas alone?"

"Classified information."

"Since you're from the future, you should know what would happen next, right?"

"Classified information."

"What if I told him all about this?"

"Classified information."

He paused.

"I'm sorry, I really can't tell you. Especially right now, when I don't have the authority to do so." He gave me an apologetic smile. "It doesn't matter even if you don't believe me; I'd just like to let you know about this."

I remembered hearing almost the same things being said inside a certain dull, quiet apartment.

"I'm sorry."

I remained silent.

Okay, what the heck? First there's Basil who just told me that he was from a parallel universe, basically an alien, and now Chopper's spouting nonsense about him being a time-traveling observer? Just what was going on here? They were here for Ace, but why? Why was he so…special? How?

And there was that thing about me being Ace's chosen one or something…

I felt a headache coming up, so I sat there, waiting for it to subside.

For what seemed like forever, with the two of use simply staring at the river in silence, I chose to speak up. "Chopper-kun?"

"Y-Yeah...?"

"Can I just pretend this conversation never happened?" I said, leaning back and sighing. "Whether I believe you or not, let's just put this aside for now, okay?"

His face lightened up instantly. "Okay!" he chirped, looking rather relieved. "I suppose that this is the best solution, the way things are going at the moment. Please, just treat me as you've always done, Kyonko-san." With that said, he bowed.

I felt my face redden by the show of manners. You barely see any boy being this cute nowadays. "Hey, um, can I ask you a question?" I asked, trying to get him to lift his head.

And it worked! His head bobbed right back up as he looked at me in a childish puzzled fashion. "What is it?"

"I know you're not allowed to be involved with anyone, but…do you have anyone you like?"

"Classified information!" Chopper smiled at me again, and winked.

...

He's so adorable!

XOXOXO

So after that, we took a simple stroll around the streets. Despite Ace's threats and warnings about not going on a date, I figured that simply walking around with Chopper probably wouldn't incur his wrath. We went window shopping at the fashion stores in the mall, took a peek at the souvenir stalls by the street side...you know, just random stuff to kill time.

Eventually, my cell phone rang. It was Ace.

"Hey, Kyonko! We're meeting at noon, at the same place where we met this morning, remember! Don't be late!"

He hung up before I had a chance to reply. I glanced at my watch—it was already eleven fifty. Dang it, there's no way we were going to make it!

"Was that Portgas-kun? What did he say?" Chopper asked, looking worried.

"We've got to hurry—by noon, we have to meet up the café, but we got only less than ten minutes!"

Without thinking, I grabbed for Chopper's hand and ran to the direction of where the SOS Brigade had split. I knew there was no chance to get their by noon unless we ran, so we took off, sprinting as hard as we could. What reaction would Ace have if he saw us running up hand-in-hand? He'd probably dress Chopper in something more horrendous than that Sailor Moon costume he made him wear the other day.

Better not let that happen!

"Results?" Ace demanded, as we arrived, panting. We were two minutes late, and that was the first thing Haruki said when he saw us. He seemed rather pissed off.

"You didn't find anything?"

"Nope," I answered, trying to breathe easier.

"You probably didn't even look, did you?" he said, getting worked up. "I bet you just walked around aimlessly. What did I tell you, Chopper?"

Chopper trembled with utter terror in response.

"Well, did you guys find anything?" I shot back.

Upon hearing me, Ace fell silent. After a few moments of no one saying anything, Ace growled, "Let's just have lunch first then. We'll continue after that."

What? He still wanted to continue?

XOXOXO

We had our lunch in a burger shop. Ace ordered the biggest burger they had for sale, and devoured it and the fries that came with it in about thirty seconds flat. I guess a big guy needs all those calories to fuel his system. He's so fast in every respect...

He said it was time to draw lots again, and drew out some extra toothpicks he'd stolen from the café earlier this morning. He was well-prepared for stuff that he liked, I guess.

"Didn't I tell you? All part of the plan."

Law plucked a toothpick. "Unmarked again," he said. He wasn't smiling this time—he looked kind of bored…

Chopper took his turn. "Mine is too." He looked at me. "How about you?"

I showed him the one that I had drawn. "Mine's marked," I said, leaning back.

Ace scowled at me for no particular reason and rushed Basil into drawing a toothpick. I didn't think it was possible for him to be in a fouler mood than he already was, but...

Please, Basil, for in the name of all things good, pick a marked one! Please be a marked one, please be a marked one, please be a marked one!

In the end, my wish was granted. Basil drew the marked toothpick and so was grouped with me. Ace glared at the unmarked toothpick as if staring at his mother's murderer, then turned towards me and Basil (who was rapidly, but neatly, devouring his cheeseburger) and scowled.

What's with him being so angry today?

"We'll meet in front of the station by four. Find something by then, or else!" After that fierce statement, he grabbed my soda, drained it one gulp, and stalked angrily out of the restaurant.

Ugh! And just when I was about to wash down my chewed burger!

XOXOXO

This time we went south and north, with Basil and I charged with the duty of investigating the south side. Before we parted, Chopper waved me goodbye, telling me good luck. I smiled and wished him good luck as well, and inwardly hoped that Ace would stop forcing him to dress up in ridiculous outfits.

So it was just Basil and me standing idly in front of the busy station…

"What do you want to do?" I asked, looking up at him.

Basil said nothing.

"...Let's go." I strode forward and found him to follow after. I think I'm starting to get the hand of being used to him. Since we were alone, I decided to bring something up. "Sempai, about the stuff you told me the other day..."

"Yes?"

"I'm starting to believe it a little."

"Is that true...?"

"Yeah."

"..."

So under this empty atmosphere, we silently walked around the station. I tried to make small talk with Basil, but…

"Don't you have any casual clothing?"

"..."

"Well, what do you do on holidays?"

"..."

"Are you happy now?"

"..."

And that's how our conversation went for that day.

There wasn't much point just walking around aimlessly, so I suggested that we go to the new library by the seaside that had been built around the same time the council developed the land for the station. I'd never been inside before, really, because I rarely borrowed any books. I just thought maybe I could get some rest. But when we got inside, I discovered that every single seat was occupied. I guess these people don't have anywhere else to go in their free time, huh?

I glanced around the library, looking a bit lost, while Basil had already drifted towards the bookshelves as though in a trance. I guess this must be his personal nirvana.

I used to read often. When I was back in elementary school, my dad used to borrow illustrated books from the children's section for me to read. There were all sorts of books, but I did remember that the ones that I'd read were all quite interesting. But I couldn't remember the names of any of those books anymore. When was it that I stopped reading?

When did reading become boring for me?

I randomly picked up a book from the shelf and flipped through a few pages, before putting it back and picking up another book. It would take me forever to find an interesting book in this ocean of literature if I didn't do any research first. With those kinds of thoughts hanging over my head, I wandered between the bookshelves.

As I headed to look for Basil, I found him sitting cross-legged in front of a shelf full of thick hardcover books, reading one large tome particularly intently.

Eventually, a woman stood up and wandered off elsewhere. I went and sat down on her chair, carrying a novel that I had randomly picked. But it was impossible to continue reading a book that I had never intended on reading in the first place, so I found myself getting drowsy...and eventually falling asleep.

At that moment, my pocket suddenly vibrated.

"WHA-?"

I jumped in astonishment. When I saw everyone frowning at me, I remembered that I was in a library, and immediately rushed out of the library to answer my cell-phone, which had been set to silent mode.

"Idiot! What the hell have you been doing?" A deafening sound roared through my ear. Ace's dulcet tones helped me jump straight out of my drowsiness and back to reality. "Exactly what time do you think it is now?"

"Sorry, I just woke up just now!" I babbled, glancing at my watch. Great, we were at least a quarter of an hour late already!

"What? Dumbass!"

You are the least qualified person to call me a dumbass!

"Get your ass over here at once! I'm giving you thirty seconds!"

Stop making demands that are impossible to achieve, Portgas!

After he roughly hung up, I shoved my phone back in my pocket and rushed back inside the library. Basil was still there, reading what looked like a huge encyclopedia—possibly a long range variety about tarot cards or the like.

The following was a little tricky. It took quite some time trying to move Basil—who seemed almost rooted to the spot—and then we had to go to the counter to fill out a form to borrow the book. And the entire time, my pocket incessantly vibrated—Ace wouldn't stop calling me.

When we returned to the station, Basil holding the thick book in his arms like it was his first-born child, the three people waiting there all had completely different reactions. Chopper offered us an exhausted smile, coupled with a sigh of relief, Law simply shrugged her shoulders, and Ace (predictably) yelled at me as though I was on the other side of a mountain.

"Late again!" he snapped. "Penalty!"

Oh, give me a break!

XOXOXO

"What a day," Chopper sighed before we parted. "Portgas-kun was walking so fast that it was hard keeping up with him! Anyway, thank you, Kyonko-san, for listening to me today." He smiled shyly. "I had a fun time being with you."

Were people from the future stunningly cute as Chopper? Seriously!

"See you later then!" Chopper said, waving goodbye. As I watched him leave, Law tapped me on the shoulder and bid me a farewell also, but Basil seemed to have vanished on the spot. I guess the guy couldn't wait to get home to read his new book.

Now that left Ace, who was glowering angrily at me.

"What exactly have you been doing all day today?" he demanded.

"You could ask yourself the same question," I muttered.

"What kind of answer is that?"

From my prior experience being with Ace, I've learned that he was just a bundle of unpredictable emotions, and yet he could be manipulated. Wow, that wasn't a nice thing to say, but it was true. If you were to toss in careless words, Ace will no doubt get irritable, but if you made sure to say things that will be pleasing to his ears, then he would be in a tolerable mood. I had a suspicion that Law discovered this not so long ago.

Ace was already put off with me, so I decided to steer clear of the storm cloud by saying something that would distract him. I wasn't in the mood of putting up with him right now. "There's no way that anything paranormal could be discovered already. We just got to be patient and I'm sure that they'll come eventually."

He looked surprised, as if he hadn't been expecting me to say such a thing. Then he looked away and huffed. "I knew that. I just wanted the SOS Brigade to become accustomed to searching for something that could be blended within the community."

Or something that would be right next to you the whole time. Heck, I'm sure that Law was probably an alien like Basil.

"Yeah, sure," I exhaled, feeling exhausted.

"Hmmph." Without saying a single goodbye, Ace turned around and marched away.

It didn't matter to me. My mind was focused entirely on going home. But when I got back to the bank, I found my bike missing. Replacing it was a small poster on the lamppost which stated that "Your bicycle has been towed away as a result of illegal parking."

…Why me?


	5. I

**AN**: It's kind of like a science fiction story…but less so.

XOXOXO

Coming to school on Mondays was always a downfall on any student's mood, especially when you have to climb over the Himalayas. Climbing over that hill was such a drag. I thought that today would be another typical school day, but Ace made it a bit more interesting.

Portgas D. Ace kept passing out.

I thought it was strange since he came to school this morning all cheerful and looking well-slept, but he kept passing out. At random times, in fact. During classes, I would hear him snore, sputter awake, refocus on the lesson, then drop back to slumber. When it was time for PE, Ace fell to the floor while changing into his uniform. Lunchtime came around and everyone could see Ace sprawled over his desk.

"Narcolepsy."

I blinked and looked up from my bento. "He has what?"

"Narcolepsy," Nojiko repeated, waving her chopsticks in the air. "He had fits of it a couple times back in junior high, only whenever he ran out of his medication."

"What's narcolepsy?" Kuina asked.

"It's some kind of disorder that causes you to fall asleep at random times. If you ask me, I think it's dangerous."

"Why would it be dangerous?" I asked, stuffing my mouth with rice.

"Well, what if you're walking across the street, and then you suddenly fell unconscious? And what if there was a massive truck hurtling towards your body?"

"Mmm."

As we kept talking, someone from a different class requested for Ace. Since Ace was currently dead (joking, joking) and I was his supposed buddy, I answered for him. It wasn't anything particularly important seeing how the student was just escorting a middle school student.

That middle school student was Monkey D. Luffy.

Or was it Chimpanzee D. Luffy? No, wait, it was Monkey.

"Hi, Kyonko!" Luffy said, his grin meeting ear to ear. "How's Wataru doing?"

Wataru and Luffy used to go to the same elementary school since Luffy graduated. "Good," I replied. "How are your brother and grandpa doing?"

"Oh, Gramps being an ass like always," he said in a careless manner, picking his nose. I swear, this kid was weird. "My brother had been doing better, recently. He's been smiling a lot more and has been less angry, even towards Gramps! He talks about his friends all the time, though he never mentioned their names."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. It's been a huge change since these last few years. Gramps said that the reason he was being angry was because he was being hormonal, though I have no idea what that is. Do you know what hormonal is?"

"I got the generic idea of it."

Luffy pretended to know what "generic" meant as he nodded and had an expression of seriousness. "I know what 'generic' means," he said seriously, totally giving away that he didn't know what it meant.

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"So what are you here for?" I asked, deciding to cut to the chase.

"What?" He gave me a blank look. "Oh yeah! Is Ace in there?"

"Huh? You know Ace?"

"Yeah, he's my brother."

…

…

…

"…Is that so?"

He nodded. "Not by blood though. Gramps adopted him since he was a baby, but we still consider one another as brothers! Anyway, Ace forgot to take his medication and I've come to give it to him." Luffy pulled out a plastic bag that sealed two blue pills. "Ya see? I have them here!"

"Well, that's certainly responsible of you, Luffy," I said, trying not to think too much of the relation between Luffy and Ace. What a small world. "I can take that to your brother, if you want. You better get to your school before lunch ends, anyway. Otherwise, you'll miss out in class."

"Hahaha! I don't really pay attention in class," Luffy laughed. I figured as much.

Luffy listened to me, anyway. He handed the bag to me and headed off back to his school. "Bye Kyonko!" he said, waving vigorously.

I waved back and went back to class. Nojiko and Kuina looked at me and the bag curiously, so I launched an explanation. Kuina was astonished.

"Luffy was Portgas-kun's brother all this time?" she gasped. "I had no idea!"

"You knew his younger brother?" Nojiko asked.

"Luffy's friends with my brother, Zoro, and they go to the same school."

Before the bell would ring, I fetched a water bottle and set it and Ace's pills on his desk. When he finally came to the world of consciousness, I watched him stare, disoriented, at the objects. "Morning already?" he mumbled.

I couldn't help but smile. Ace was pretty cute like this.

XOXOXO

And by cute, only by when he was sleeping.

Because I didn't wake him up when Luffy came over to our high school, Ace's temper sky-rocketed. I mean, it was a completely irrational reason to get huffy about, but that's Ace for you. He blew up at me about it for a good four minutes before sitting back down and burying his head in his arms, evidently sulking.

Geez, this guy doesn't know when to give up.

Other than the brother issue, the temperature of the room became so stuffy. Students were now tempted to strip off their uniforms because of it, and I too hated the way the sweat of my back clung onto my clothes. The temperature didn't help with Captain Moody Pants's temper either.

An aura of resentment and barely-repressed rage radiated out across the classroom from Ace's downer mood, leaving me with an uncomfortable pressure against my back. The clanging chime that signaled the end of the day had never ever been so welcome before; like a field mouse fleeing from a raging bushfire, I evacuated to the clubroom.

I've become so used to seeing Basil read in the corner that he'd become part of the scenery, an ornament. Like a potted plant. Or something.

Trafalgar Law had also just arrived, so it was the three of us in the clubroom that day; Ace had cleaning duty (thank goodness) and Chopper was probably delaying.

I looked at him, sighing a bit. "I suppose you have something to tell me about Portgas?"

His peculiar smile never left his face. "It seems like you've already heard it from the others, am I right?" he said, his head tilting a bit.

I frowned, but didn't say anything.

He cast a look at Basil, and then turned back to me. "Let's go somewhere where Portgas-ya won't hear us," he suggested.

So he took me to the cafeteria where he treated me a cup of coffee. We sat down at where the tables were set outside. I expected him to get on with what connection he had with Ace, but, instead, he gave me a question. He leaned forward with his elbows propped and his chin on his intertwined fingers, looking every bit like a pondering detective. "So tell me, what do you know about Portgas D. Ace?"

I shrugged. "That he isn't your everyday weirdo."

He smirked. "Well, that's certainly true. I'm glad that you already know; otherwise, I'll have much more to explain than I like to."

I sighed. Was this some kind of joke? All of the other members of the SOS Brigade had managed to inform me in their own way that Ace was not, in fact, human. Had global warming managed to fry their brains into bacon crisps or something? "Just tell me what you are and why you came to this time or planet."

"Time or planet?" he repeated, raising a brow.

"Yeah, well, Basil-sempai told me that he was an alien coming from a parallel universe, or galaxy, or whatever…" Basil had yet to make anything of what he said clear. "And Chopper-kun said that he was a time-traveler who came from the future. So what are you? A mythical creature?"

"Might that be something quite intriguing, but, unfortunately, I'm not," Law said. "I'm from the same origin as Basil Hawkins, basically, as what you called it, an alien."

Huh. "Then…would that make Chopper-kun an alien as well?" I inquired. "Considering how all three of you have goals pertaining to Portgas, I mean."

"No, Chopper belongs to this world. There is another Chopper in my world, however."

My eyebrows shot up. "There is?"

"Yes, but he isn't a human; he's a talking reindeer."

"…What?"

…

…

…

"I…don't think you're being serious," I said flatly. "Yeah, you're definitely joking with me."

"No, I am being serious. In my world, galaxy, universe, whatever, Chopper's a talking reindeer."

Law smiled cryptically.

"Right…" I said slowly. "So moving along…" I cleared my throat. "I guess this means that you're part of this Sentient whatchamacallit Organization, and you and Basil-sempai are Parallel Transmit something-something Entities, right?"

"Right, but let's just call it organization and entity. I sometimes get headaches of how ridiculously long these names tend to be." He took a sip of his coffee. "Anyway, though I am under the same organization as Basil, we have been given separate roles depending on what sectors we've come from. While Basil processes data and is put to observe, I'm from an agency that takes action to set the data in order."

Great, now we have an agency.

"If there is an agency, does that mean that there are others like you here?" I asked.

"Frankly, I don't know if there are any around in this area, but there are about ten of us in this world at this time, that I'm sure. Since I haven't been part of the agency up until recently, I have little access to details about the organization. The higher-ups are the only ones who know just about everything and are the ones who supervise the agency as well."

"So…what does this agency do, basically?" I drank my coffee. Bleh, too bitter.

"It's probably obvious by now. The organization sensed a major data flare five years ago, thus sending entities to observe the cause of such amount of data, which can be traced back to Portgas-ya. But, during observation, the situation had been from stable to unstable, and, as Basil had reported it, it was due to an external factor. You."

I was beginning to catch on. "That's why you transferred here? As a student?"

He smiled. "Correct." He set the cup back down and folded his hands again. "I'm sure you understand that this is a very important project for the organization, so we have sleeper agents around. Like I said, I have limited access of knowledge, but there is a possibility that they could be in this very school, whether as a student or a teacher. I've been transferred to this world as additional help."

Sleeper agents? Suddenly, Nojiko's face came to mind. She had been in the same school as Ace for three years…but…but couldn't mean that she was part of this organization, right?

"You're just kidding, right?"

"However, I cannot guarantee that all of them are on Portgas-ya's side," Law said, acting as if he hadn't heard me. Silence hung the air, his laidback smile wiped clean from his face as he looked at me in a scrutinizing manner. Really unnerved me. Then…he smiled again. "So, how do you think this world began its existence?"

Out of nowhere, a big question like that?

"Um, God made the world…and then put Adam and Eve and the animals and all that," I said uncomfortably.

He chuckled. "Some believe in the Big Bang theory also, but there are some people in the organization who believe in another possibility—this world, my world, the cosmetic system came in being only five years ago."

I stared at Law in speechlessness.

He just shrugged.

Finally, I cried out, "That's completely impossible! I can still clearly remember what happened even further back than five years ago! My parents are still alive, I still have the three stitches I got when I fell into a drain when I was a kid, and how do you explain all this junk that I've been desperately memorizing from our history textbooks?"

"How can you be sure that all humans, including you, are not simply created with these earlier memories? If you accept that as possible, then you don't even need to dwell on 'five years ago'. It might as well be 'five minutes ago' that the universe was born," he countered.

I didn't respond.

"Try to imagine a virtual reality. Everything that you see, smell, and touch in that virtual reality is nothing more than electrical impulses acting upon your neural centers in your brain. But you believe that everything that you experience is, well, real. Reality is...fragile."

I shifted in my seat. "Do…do you believe this?"

"Hell no," he said so blatantly that I blinked in surprise. "But I haven't been with the agency long enough to fully see how they come up with such conclusion, which, in my opinion, is absurd. Basil happens to share my thoughts exactly."

I wonder how long Basil had been with the organization. "Then what does that hypothesis have to do with Portgas?"

"Some believe that the reality we know may be nothing more than a person's dream. We are substance as dreams are made of... An 'insubstantial pageant', if you will. And for the dreamer, to create and alter this dream... well, there is nothing easier. And we all know who this 'dreamer' is…" Law frowned lightly. "Humans have always had a name for those who can destroy and remake the world at will. They have called them a god."

"Oh no," I moaned, covering my face with a hand. "That's just…crazy."

"That's what about half of the agency believes," Law said. "But, nonetheless, we must be careful. Taking reference to the Bible, when God became displeased with this world He destroyed it with a great flood that wiped away all humanity, other than Noah and his family, who had built an ark just before the flood occurred. Well, it's similar in Portgas-ya's case in that retrospect."

I put my hand to my head again. "Look, why not simply go up and ask Portgas about all this? Tell him not to destroy the world. If it's this important, he might actually listen for a change."

"He is unaware of his own powers. And part of our job is to make sure he remains so and lives out his life peacefully. Anyway, he's too…immature to take responsibility as a god, but, though he has not reached full potential yet, we have seen signs of his power."

"Such as?"

Law rolled his eyes. "Because there are such things as aliens and time-travelers coming to this world, as if the organization hadn't existed before Portgas-ya's time," he snorted. "That's what he wished for, right? For anything out of the ordinary to appear?"

I thought back to that first day. _"Normal human beings do not interest me. If you are an alien, a monster, an esper, or anything paranormal, come see me at once._" Was that what brought them all out of hiding? His crazy quest for the unusual?

"I still don't believe about Portgas being a god," I deadpanned, frowning. "I mean, that's just pushing it. He'll get an ego the size of Mount Fuji if someone were to tell him that."

"Then I'm glad you're sane. It was rather annoying for me to be surrounded by those who kept spouting such theories." He shrugged again. "It was hypothesized that Portgas-ya is unable to completely utilize his powers at the moment; he is only able to release them subconsciously, almost randomly. But for the past few months, he has been continually releasing powers far beyond human comprehension. One side-effect of these random power outbursts has resulted in him having Tony Tony Chopper, Basil Hawkins, and myself to join his club, without knowledge of who we are."

So I guess that makes me the only person without a secret to hide.

"However, because you are his chosen one, you're stuck with the responsibility of making sure that Portgas-ya will not slip into a state of melancholy or to tire of this reality." He patted me on the head. "May the fate of the world rest in your hands."

Oh, come on!

"Why don't you just abduct him, perform autopsy on him and see what his brain is made of?" I grumbled. "Heck, you might just learn the secrets of the universe!"

"There are some extremists within the organization who feel that way," Law said, "but the majority believes it would be best if we were to leave him alone. Who knows what might occur if Portgas-ya were to become displeased by the situation? He already has enough data to warp the dimensions of the natural state of just about anything. So, in that case, Portgas-ya must never become upset with the universe."

Wasn't that a bit too late, then? I mean, if he's always been complaining about how boring the world was and then his keen interest on making everyday interesting, then what else was there to hint on? "What are we supposed to do, then?" I asked.

"Beats me."

Okay… Well, since it was still question time…

"Then…what would happen if Portgas were to die?"

"Would the world simply be destroyed upon his death? Or would the god simply cease to exist? Perhaps a new god would replace him. Until it occurs, nobody really knows," he said nonchalantly.

I found myself not getting anywhere. Basically, the answers that he was giving me were 'I don't know's. Not that I could blame him. After all, he did say that he had limited knowledge, but it made me frustrated how I was stuck with nothing, which made me even more frustrated since I was actually buying this junk. "So you have...what, psychic powers or something?"

"You could say that."

"Then can you show me?"

"Can't, sorry. My powers are to be used on particular situations, not for show. But I do have a feeling that you will see them one day." He gave me one more smile, making me realize that he hadn't been smiling so often in comparison whenever Ace was around. I wonder he does that in order to maintain a 'mysterious student' image. "Sadly, this is where our conversation cuts short. Thanks for buying your time."

He got up from his seat and left before waving me a goodbye. I never thought that I would find myself sitting alone with my creepy sempai, and yet not be creeped out at all. No, actually, he was—and dare I say it—quite charming. I mean, in his own peculiar way. Though he was still weird. And he could do something about those dark circles around his eyes.

I took a sip of my coffee. Oh, bleh, now it's cold.

XOXOXO

When I returned to the clubroom, Chopper was brewing tea. The smell of chamomile wafted into my nose, and I inhaled happily. Somehow, all my doubts and worries had been lifted. Ah! To be in the presence of a kind and darling person! If only Ace were to shed his selfishness and obnoxiousness and be more like Chopper…

Chopper looked up from his brewing and flashed me a smile. "Welcome back, Kyonko-san! Would you like some tea? I made it myself." When I said yes, he began pouring cups. "I bought a new mix since I thought it would be nice to deviate from the old one once in a while. I hope I made this correctly."

After handing it to me, I took a sip and grinned. "It taste great, Chopper-kun."

His eyes brightened. "Really? I'm so glad!"

Jeez! How can a boy be this cute? Not that I'm complaining, of course.

I moved to the chief's seat and booted up the computer. Sensing somebody watching me, I lifted my head to find Basil's eyes fixed on me, instead of his book. When he noticed me watching him, he nodded slightly and turned his eyes back towards the pages once more.

That's...surprisingly human of him.

I opened the internet browser and went to the club webpage, trying to think of something to add to the site, but I had no idea where to start. This webpage was really just a waste of time...but I was bored. Ace would usually order us around, that was how our time was spent, but since he wasn't here, there wasn't really anything else to do.

Time passed…

Ace never came.

XOXOXO

The next morning, Ace was sprawled across his desk, scowling. This reminded me of our first encounter, except he didn't look miserable or kept pulling his collar at the time.

"Hey, where you yesterday?" I asked, setting my bag near my desk. "Everyone kept waiting for you, but you never showed up."

"What's it to you?" he grumbled.

"Just wondering…"

His eyes rose, looking at me, and then he sniffed superciliously. "If you must know, I retraced where you had gone on Saturday when you were supposed to be investigating, _not_ moseying round as though you're on a date," he spat.

"…So, did you find anything?" I asked, sitting down.

Instead of answering me, he flung himself off the desk and back into his chair. "Argh! It's so hot!" he cried suddenly. "When is the school gonna switch uniforms? I wanna wear our short sleeves already!" Then he flung himself back onto his desk, his head being burying by his arms.

He was _so_ exaggerating… Well, it was hot, but it wasn't _that_ hot, at least, right now it wasn't. When I glanced at his rolled-up sleeves, I got the impression that perhaps it was his agitation that was fueling the air around him. Anyway, the school didn't change seasonal wear until June, so there was a week left before the end of May.

"Portgas. Look," I said, "I've probably said this before, I don't really recall, but haven't you ever considered just giving up on all this paranormal stuff and trying to live a normal high school life?"

I thought he'd lift his head and scowl at me, as usual, but he didn't even move. He must be really exhausted. "A normal high school life? What kind of life is that?" he muttered against the desk.

"Something like...settling down, finding a nice, normal girlfriend, you know? Although I guess you might stumble across an alien while you're dating. It'd be like killing two birds with one stone," I said, smiling at the thought. "Besides, I bet there are plenty of girls lining up for you right now. You just gotta be patient and that special someone will come around eventually."

He lifted his head up from the desk and just looked at me for a few seconds. "Hmph, like it matters!" he scoffed after a moment of silence. "Love! It's stupid! It's like...like some sort of mental illness!"

Maybe if he were to be betrothed to an alien bride, then he'll think back twice.

His eyes shifted to the window. "I do think about that sorta stuff, though. I'm a healthy guy, after all. But there's no way I'm just gonna ask some stupid girl out and be saddled with a huge burden forever! Besides, if I'm too busy going on dates, what's gonna happen to my SOS Brigade? I just founded it!"

Technically, you haven't actually founded it at all.

"Look, why not create a club that involves some form of actual entertainment?" I suggested. "That would attract more members for sure."

"No," Ace flatly refused. "I only founded the SOS Brigade because all the other clubs were too boring, and I've even recruited an interesting experiment like Chopper and a mysterious transfer student, too! Why hasn't anything happened yet? This is so frustrating…!"

This is the first time I've seen Ace this depressed. A big guy like that looking so pathetic makes me feel depressed too...

I need to stop letting this get to me.

For the rest of the day and all through class, Ace was asleep. The weird thing was that the teachers never noticed.

It's got to be a coincidence. It's just got to be.

XOXOXO

Strange things had been set in motion that day. Nobody else had noticed because these events hadn't built up to their shocking climax just yet, but I had been thinking about them all day, ever since homeroom.

You see, while I was talking to Ace, my mind was dwelling on something else. It all began with a simple note that was left in my shoe locker this morning.

The note said, "After school when everybody else has left, come to the 1-5 classroom." The handwriting was angular and archaic-looking. It looked like it had been written by a guy. There was no signature.

So, what the heck was this all about? The differing opinions in my mind decided to hold an emergency meeting to debate amongst themselves.

The first thought said, "This has happened before." But the writing was different from the writing on the bookmark. Basil had handwriting so perfect it's like printed text, but this note, although well-written, wasn't so flawless. And Basil probably wouldn't be so direct as to stick a note in my shoe locker.

The second asked, "Could it be Chopper-kun?" No, if it was Chopper, I doubted he'd just tear off a piece of paper and throw it into my locker casually. He seemed like the type of person who'd use an envelope for this kind of g

And there was no way that I was going to consider Law or Ace.

But most of all…it was also kinda weird that the specified meeting location was my classroom.

Yeah, there was no way that it was Ace! He wasn't the type to go for subtlety, eh he he…

Finally, my third thought, stronger and louder than all the rest, asked the obvious question: "Could it just be a love letter?"

I guess it made sense. The writer had specified that I should come "after everyone else is gone", and it had been stuffed into my shoe locker, which is where you'd expect to find a confession note. It's a big cliché, but an accurate one, I suppose. Still, in all my years of school, I've never, ever gotten one of these. Why would they start coming now? I don't think I'm any better looking now than I was in junior high...

My fourth thought, which was slightly more cynical than the rest of my thoughts, told me, "It's probably a prank." Yeah, Nojiko and Kuina would probably do that kind of thing; it certainly sounded more realistic than me having suddenly acquired a secret admirer. Those two would play a stupid joke like that on me, though I think they probably would've written more.

I had been drifting aimlessly through my school day while these thoughts had been swirling around in my head. As I was wondering how I could escape from Ace long enough to get to this meeting spot, he grumpily announced that he was going to go home and "Punch something."

Chance!

I decided to go to the clubroom first because I didn't want to look like some pining lonely girl who was desperate enough to wait in a classroom all day for some random stranger. If Nojiko or Kuina suddenly walked in and said "Oh my gosh, Kyonko! I'm so sorry! I didn't think you'd take a letter like that so seriously!" while secretly trying to hide her laughter, I'd be really pissed. No, it'd be better if I kill some time first and then go peek into the classroom to see if anyone's there. Yeah, that's the perfect strategy.

"You're a little late!" said Chopper happily, his back to me. He looked like he was brewing tea again. "Where's Portgas-kun?"

"He went home. Actually, he seemed pretty tired," I said, settling down on a chair. We each took our cup of tea and drunk. I guess without Ace around, we're pretty much the "Do Nothing" club."Law-sempai still hasn't arrived?" I asked, eventually.

"Oh, he did come earlier, but he said that he had to leave for his part-time job."

What kind of part-time job, exactly? Well, at least now I can cross out Law and Ace from my list of suspects.

Since I had nothing to do but wait, I played a few card games with Chopper while chatting a bit. After three games, I stopped playing and went to surf the internet for a little bit, and eventually, Basil stopped reading and stiffly closed his book. Recently, we'd taken this action of his as a sign to call it day for our club activities (though what those club activities actually were was still unclear), and we all began to pack our stuff away.

I left the room and proceeded to my classroom. The clock had said half past five when I glanced at it, so there shouldn't be anybody left in the classroom. Even if it were a prank by my friends, they'd probably have gone home by now out of boredom. Despite that, I ran up the two flights of stairs to the top floor, just to be safe. I mean, what if it really was a confession?

I breathed in deeply in the silent corridor. The classroom doors all have slightly tinted windows, so I couldn't see anything clearly inside—only that the sunset had painted the room a wonderful orange-red (though that probably indicated some level of pollution around the town). Casually, I opened the door to classroom 1-5 and stuck my head inside.

…And all my hopes and anticipation came crashing down.

It wasn't a fellow classmate or someone from a neighboring classroom.

It was Kuro-sensei.

What the heck.

"You're late," the man said, directing his frown at me. "Well? Don't just stand there. Come in."

I felt as though I had no control over my body. I mechanically moved to the middle of the room, standing before my teacher who was leaning back against his desk, and I was pretty sure that I had a face that appeared like I was constipated or something. "Y-you wanted to see me, sir?"

The light that filtered through the window hit his glasses, making the glass gleam eerily. I couldn't see his eyes because of it. The only expression I could make out were his lips, were still set into a frown. "If I hadn't, then I wouldn't have placed that note, now would I?"

Imagining a teacher sneaking in a note in a student's locker…was just plain creepy. How in the world did he manage that without anyone catching him in the act? You'd think that the students would tell the teachers and the teachers would probe him about it.

I didn't respond, just too dumbfounded by the prospect that it was merely Kuro-sensei who had made my head swim with—now that I think about it—unnecessary thoughts. But when you're an adolescent female receiving things like a letter, you naturally assume that it's a boy about to confess his love to you. So what if I've never been confessed before? I can't help it if I get over-the-edge about these kinds of things!

Kuro-sensei sighed, pushing his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose. "Anyway, I have a question for you. Have you ever heard of the saying, 'It is better to have lost and loved than to never have loved at all'?" he asked, his stern tone replaced by a genuinely curious one. "And do you think that 'loving', in this context, may refer to…taking action, as well?"

What was he saying? "Well, I guess it would make sense," I said without conviction.

The man continued. "If there exist a situation where staying within the status quo would simply make things worse, and you had no idea how to improve it, what would you do?"

What was my teacher leading this conversation to? No, can this even be considered as a conversation? It was more like an interrogative discussion where all I can do was answer. "Um, try to improve it, anyway?"

Those pressed lips twitched into a small smile. "Wouldn't you say that it would be better to do anything, anything at all, and face the consequences? Because to do nothing would simply let the situation degrade, right?"

"I guess so…"

"That's what I meant!" I blinked, taken back by Kuro-sensei's sudden fervor. He wasn't leaning against his desk anymore, but was standing firmly on his feet. The light no longer shined on his glasses, which revealed a pair of self-satisfied orbs. "Exactly what I meant…"

I unconsciously took a step back. I wasn't sure what was going on…but I have the strangest feeling that something wasn't going to end so well if I wasn't careful. Note the now crazed teacher and the utterly confused student who both happened to be in the same room.

"But those above are incapable of thinking laterally," he said, abruptly adopting a grave tone. "They're out of touch with the rapid changes on this plane of reality. So I am...compelled to do something, to make something happen, so that this situation does not degrade any further. That is why I have decided to act without authorization, and force a change upon this situation."

Okay, what?

He took a step forward. "I've grown tired of having to observe a changeless environment…"

This really wasn't a joke set up by my friends, right? They wouldn't happen to be hiding in the cabinet behind me, or sitting under the teacher's desk, both barely suppressing their laughter, _right_? Perhaps they were expecting me to shriek and freak out by Kuro-sensei's behavior, or should I call it acting? Oh, good grief, if that was the case, then—

"That is why I have to kill you for the sake of Portgas D. Ace's reaction."

Some instinct made me throw myself backwards as a metallic-slicing noise resounded in my ears and a glimmer of steel flashed before my eyes. Wind brushed against my neck, and my back collided painfully against the wall. A sudden fog of adrenaline and fear worked its way into my system, and I watched my hair-tie fall to the floor and felt my hair drift to my sides.

Looking up, Kuro-sensei stood above me, his malicious sneer sending chills of trepidation down my spine, more so when I noticed the fine knives that seemed to have sprouted from his fingertips. He was wearing black gloves—_why_ haven't I seen in the beginning that he was wearing gloves?

The man jerked his hand, pulling his knives-glove-weapon thing from the wall where he had embedded those knives deep into. Chips of plaster hit my face—I had a vague vision that it could have been my throat he would have sliced up.

In fits of panic, I scrambled away from him, crying out, "St-stop joking around, sensei! Th-that's r-really dangerous. E-even if it were f-fake, I'd still be really, really scared! Please, put those things away!"

"You think I'm joking?" Kuro-sensei snorted, tilting his head in a way that Law had done in the clubroom before we had our talk. "Hmmm..."

I finally had managed to get to my feet, telling myself that this had to be a joke—just a really bad joke, dang it! This was way too surreal! Kuro-sensei was the serious yet capable homeroom teacher of class 1-5! He was the kind of man who looked down on idleness and foolishness, and worked hard to make sure that each of his students was well-educated; he did not wear some weird pair of dagger-installed gloves and go swinging them around in hopes of making heads roll!

But…he mentioned about having to kill me, right? In sake of Portgas D. Ace's reaction? What the heck! Was this about Ace again? And what about having to kill me? To see if he'll react to my death?

"I-I don't understand what you're saying!" I said quickly, an undercurrent of fear audible in my voice, eyes darting around the empty classroom. "This isn't funny anymore, okay? Put th-those things away!"

"I can't do that," Kuro-sensei said, smiling uncharacteristically sinisterly, "because I really do want you to die!"

He brought his elbow back, his hand gnarled and the knives spread open, then he thrust his palm at me in a blink of an eye. I was lucky that I managed to anticipate his movements and threw myself sideways just in time. I heard one of the students' desks shatter as I ducked under his arm and bolted for the door.

I rushed forwards, the door getting closer with every step, and ran straight into a wall.

What the heck!

Where did the door go? Even the windows were gone! A second ago, the windows and the doors to the corridor were there, but now it was just a gray wall!

No way!

"Do not attempt to escape." His voice grew closer as I scrabbled desperately at the blank surface. "I have gained control over this sub-space. All exits have been blocked. Quite simple, really—all I needed to do was tamper with the molecular structure of the materials at hand. In any case, this room has been sealed. There are no ways in or out."

I turned around, prepared to dive through a window if necessary, only to find that the sunset—or, more to the point, the other windows—had disappeared as well. All that was left were giant concrete walls, and the cold white light of the lamps shining down onto whatever desks remained.

This can't be! This wasn't possible!

His silhouette moved slowly towards me.

"As your teacher, I order you to cease resistance. You're going to die anyway."

No matter where I looked there was nothing but undisclosed concrete and featureless walls. There wasn't a single door, a single window, nothing! Was there something wrong with my brain?

I frantically dashed between the desks, trying to get as far from Kuro as possible. But he just moved slowly towards me in a straight line, smiling his sinister smile as he sliced desks and chairs aside like so much kindling. Unlike him, my path was always blocked.

This game of cat and mouse did not last very long. Pretty soon, I was cornered.

If this was how it was going to end, I decided—to hell with it! I hurled a chair at Kuro with all my might, but it slowed and stopped in the air before it got anywhere near him, and then flew off to the other side of the room, landing in a cloud of dust.

This was impossible, completely impossible!

"Impressive strength for a life-form of your characteristics, but resistance is futile. Everything in this room moves according to my will."

Ah, totally unfair!

"Nothing you do has any meaning. It is useless." Kuro sighed and adjusted his glasses as I desperately began to tense my legs to try and leap over a table to escape. "Hmm...what did I just say? I should have just done this from the beginning, I suppose."

I couldn't move my body.

The second he said those words, my entire body just froze in place. This was _totally_ unfair!

My feet were rooted to the ground like a tree, unable to move even the smallest muscle. My arms were fixed like a wax statue, and I couldn't even blink. All I could do was stare in horrification at Kuro's face as he slowly approached, bringing his claws up.

"Once you die, Portgas D. Ace is bound to have some sort of reaction. This may result in a massive data explosion from which we may salvage something. This might be the one-in-a-million-chance for us."

I still have no freaking idea what you're on about!

"So please." He grinned wickedly. "Die!"

At least let me close my eyes...! No, I couldn't even do that.

As ten blades began to descend towards my face, I felt a sudden sense of pressure in the air around me, and…

The ceiling suddenly collapsed in with a massive, loud crack and a protesting groan as debris began to tumble down, raising massive clouds of dust and obscuring my vision. Some of the smaller pieces rained down upon my unlucky head, and I ducked beneath my raised arms to ward off the rubble. Argh, great—wait, I could use my arms? I could move?

I lifted my head to discover…

Kuro, displaying the only look of surprise I'd ever seen on his face, knives halfway towards me, clothes and hair covered in just a slight coating of white dust. And in front of me, catching the knives by one long sword, was Basil Hawkins.

"Your programs were too basic," Basil said monotonously. "The data lockdown on the ceiling was incomplete. It did not withstand an intensive assault."

"You wish to interfere?" Kuro sniffed scornfully. "Once I slaughter this girl, Portgas D. Ace is bound to have sort of reaction. Only then can we obtain more information."

"You are my backup. Insubordination is forbidden. You must obey my commands."

"Oh? And what if I refuse?"

"I will disconnect your data entity."

Kuro smirked. "Would you like to try, Basil? I have the advantage here. This classroom is under my data jurisdiction."

Basil stiffened for a second. "Processing application for data entity disconnection—"

The second Kuro heard that, he leapt backwards around five meters away. Confronted with this kind of scene, I couldn't help but actually acknowledge the fact that these two really weren't human.

Kuro landed gracefully in the distance and rose back to his full height. As he strolled forwards towards as once more, the space around us began to distort—that's the only way I could describe it. The desks, the ceiling, the floor, everything began to shake vigorously and began to take on the appearance of liquid metal.

"Well then," Kuro said, "Let's see how you handle _this_!"

The liquid metal rose, formed into the shapes of spears, and suddenly hurled themselves at us from every direction with lightning-fast speed. But Basil _blurred_ before my eyes and suddenly the spears were all embedding themselves by my feet or around the room.

As the dust cleared, Kuro charged forwards, claws ready. Panicking, I tried to turn and run, but Basil leaned backwards and grabbed my arm. "Do not attempt to move away."

One of his wrists (probably the one holding the sword) was suddenly behind my head as he shoved me downwards whilst dodging a few swings of Kuro's claws.

"Aaaah!" I screamed as something flew over my head and smashed the blackboard to pieces.

I caught glimpses of Basil glancing upwards, and icicles instantly sprouted from the ceilings and crashed down towards Kuro, who dodged away at a speed that was incredibly difficult to follow with the naked eye. A second later, a forest of stalagmites exploded upwards from the ground.

This was insane!

"This area of space belongs to me," announced Kuro calmly. "There is no way for you to prevail."

He and Basil stood a few meters apart, facing each other, while I could only kneel on the ground shaking, afraid to stand, my hopes scattered to the winds.

It was then that Basil began to mutter something in a droning tone. "Target name: Kurahodal—hostile intent confirmed. Beginning disconnection of target's organic information interface."

Normal physics must no longer apply in this classroom—everything was turned into crazy geometric shapes, twisting and turning before my eyes. It was like a theme park's house of horrors, illusions and stomach-churning dimensions. I was starting to get dizzy!

"You will cease functionality before I do. We'll see how long you can last protecting that pathetic thing," said Kuro quite casually, his voice seemingly coming from everywhere at once. "Take _this._"

My eyes flickered in all directions that I could manage. It was so hard trying to see through this whirlwind of color!

_Whoosh..._went the sound of something slicing through the air. At that, Basil suddenly spun, dropping his sword and grabbing me by the shoulders to throw me aside.

"H-hey! What are you—" Before I could finish, I heard the distinctive sound of metal meeting flesh.

Basil stood above me, impaled straight through the chest by Kuro's blades. At least three feet of steel tore through his skin and uniform…

Oh, _no..._

"B-BASIL!" I screamed, eyes widening in horror.

"I told you not to move," Basil spoke softly, looking at the blades sticking out of his ribcage. A pool of blood was slowly beginning to form beneath his feet. "Do not worry for my sake; I am fine."

How does having knives protruding from your body be _fine_? Stupid, stupid, stupid Basil!

Unflinchingly, Basil grabbed hold of the knives, as if he couldn't feel the blades cutting his fingers, and tugged on hard. Kuro frowned lightly, and then vanished behind a flurry of flying objects, abandoning his glove.

"I can't see you defending that human very well in your damaged state," Kuro said somewhere in the room, "but it would be unwise to leave you still functional. Goodbye, Basil."

On the other side of what had once been the room, Kuro's silhouette began to become transparent from the twisted lightshow. I could see his smirk as he slowly folded his arms over his chest…and giant black tentacles, tipped with spikes, sprouted violently from his back.

"Now, _die._"

Asakura's tentacles extended, wriggling like worms, and shot in on Basil from behind. Unable to move, his slim figure shook violently, and the next second, my face was splattered with blood.

One tentacle clawed into Basil's right abdomen, another into the left side of his chest, another through his throat, through his arms, his legs… Too many to count. Blood spattered from Basil's mouth, his wounds, and down along his legs, pooling beneath his legs. Blood stained his once pretty hair, drenching it in a dark color.

"It's over," Basil muttered, reaching one hand out slowly and clutching a spike. Nothing happened.

"What's over?" Kuro asked, sounding deeply satisfied. "You mean your days of piracy, your chance of ever returning back to the other world? I must admit, what a short life you have lived, Basil Hawkins, and what a pity that you never got a chance to say farewell to your crew."

What was he talking about?

"No." Basil didn't even sound like he was on the verge of death. "Commencing data interface disconnection."

Almost instantly, everything in the classroom began to glow brightly, and then crystallized and dissolved, turning into sand.

"H-how...how can this—?" Kuro's face shifted into the second expression of surprise I'd ever seen as crystallized sand drifted down from the ceiling. "No… NO! This cannot be!"

"It took me some time to penetrate the firewall program," Basil said as the tentacles protruding from his body dissolved into sand. "But now, everything ends."

Basil was dropped to the ground, like a ragdoll, and I automatically dove in to catch him. I was astonished to see…straw dolls, like the kinds where you buy at voo-doo stores, growing out of his wounds and falling onto the ground. The straw dolls were soaking up the attacks that his body had endured as it could be seen that his injuries were closing and the blood was dissipating—it was as if he never got hurt in the first place. It was…really odd.

Kuro, to my bafflement, was turning into sand as well. He bore his teeth before Basil, hissing, "One day, Magician, one day you will taste defeat, and we'll see who'll be locked away!"

"Silence," Basil commanded, his eyes narrowing. "You will not refer to me by that title."

"Oh ho, what will it matter now that you and I will never cross paths again?" he snorted contemptuously. Then, when Kuro turned to me, only his head floating in the air while the crystallized sand was eating its way up, he smiled at me in an ominous manner. "Well, to you, young lady, I suppose I shall wish you and Portgas the best of luck. And who knows? Maybe the organization will see how right I am and order Basil to kill you."

With that said, he gave me one last smirk before completely vanishing.

I stared into the space that the man had once before occupied, then I was awaken from my reverie when a hand tugged on my cardigan. Looking down, I noticed Basil trying to sit himself up. "A-ah! Hang on, I'll go call the ambulance or something!" I rambled in haste.

"There is no need," Basil assured, locking his calm pale eyes with my frantic dark ones. "Physical damage is of no consequence. Current priority is the restoration of this sub-space into its original state." When the sand stopped falling, Basil stiffened. "Removing impure substances… Reconstructing classroom."

In a flash, classroom 1-5…appeared before my eyes. It was like a tape rewinding; everything in the room forming out of the crystal sand threw itself back into shape and solidified. The blackboard, the desks, the windows… It was rather indescribable.

Basil seemed to have recovered instantaneously, probably thanks to those straw dolls that had vanished along with the weird things that Kuro brought, but he seemed weary. Then I noticed that the blood splattered on my face and the blood staining Basil's uniform had disappeared too.

"Hey, are you okay—oof!"

Basil, my savior, had collapsed on top of me from trying to get up on his own.

"Processing power…has been converted into data operation, therefore…the linking entity has been temporarily reversed," he muttered into my shoulder.

Normally, I would have turned flustered by this personal invasion, but right now I'm exhausted. Heh, not like I did anything, but the turn of events was just too alarming. The one who deserved to be energy-deprived at the moment should be Basil, and he's displaying it right now.

"Uh, you want some help up?" Not that I'm in a position to give any, but...

"There is no need." And just before he could lift himself off of me, the door swung open.

"And you'd think that by now my little sister would…"

Lo and behold, Kuina and Nojiko bearing witness to a sempai straddling their friend on the floor. Nojiko must have been fiddling with her camera-phone, since she was the only one out of all of us to own one, because there was an animated shutter sound that went off.

Now, thinking this with a clear mind, my two friends must have come to some bizarre conclusion as they ogled at us, in addition to my hair being undone. If I still had my ponytail, this could easily be explained (by lying, of course).

It still would be a nice attempt to convince them otherwise, but I never got the chance to since they both turned bright red and fled out of the room after crying out, "S-sorry for the disturbance!"

"No, wait! You guys!" I called after them, but it was too late. I sighed heavily. "What should we do now?"

"Leave it to me," Basil said, now lifting himself off of me. "Data manipulation is my specialty. I shall let everybody think that Kurahodal had transferred out."

That wasn't what I was talking about, but…data manipulation? Was that how he does it?

I've just experienced something incredible. This was no longer an issue of whether I believed in all the stuff Basil told me the other day, and the things that Chopper and Law had told me were probably true as well.

Previously, there had been a small part in my mind that doubted whatever they said. I always had a feeling that they were hired by Ace to pull my leg with their mumbo jumbo junk, just to get me on my moment of uncertainty. Heck, I was even convinced that Basil was actually a famous actor from Norway or something, able to maintain a stoic façade the entire time he spat out lies to me… But it was actually real. Or maybe that I was dreaming? I don't know. It's become too complicated for me to register properly.

Ugh, now I'm freaked out. My world has been officially flip-flopped. And what's more? What Kuro had told me before he vanished about the organization ordering Basil to kill me…yeah, I don't think I can sleep well tonight.


	6. Really

**AN:** I wouldn't want to spoil the story yet, but the canon world is part of the story.

XOXOXO

"What's up with you? You look as though you haven't slept a single minute."

That's because I haven't. I spent my night tossing and turning, my mind running rampant on thoughts concerning what just happened yesterday. When coming down to eat breakfast, Mom commented on the horrid dark circles around my eyes and offered to put make-up on me, but I refused. I didn't know why, though; I probably looked like Law now.

I lethargically lifted my head, seeing Ace looking at me. "Nightmare," I yawned, setting my head back down.

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything else. He set his stuff down and plopped onto his seat, a wide grin threatening to split his face. "Have ya heard the news?"

"What news?"

"Kuro-sensei transferred out, dummy! First, my mysterious transfer student appears and now Kuro-sensei disappears without an explanation," he said with an eager tone. "Something is going on here, I just know it!"

Should I commend on his brilliant detective work? I think not. "Maybe he found a better job elsewhere?" I muttered, rubbing my eye tiredly.

"Che. I'm not buying such a lame excuse."

"Lame as it may be, but it is a reasonable explanation."

"Isn't it strange, though?" He leaned forward against his desk. "It was only one day between him receiving a job transfer notification and then moving out. Just what kind of job did he accept, anyway?"

"Maybe the type of job that made it urgent for him to move immediately?" I suggested.

"Impossible!" he rebuked. "This requires further investigation."

I felt sorely tempted to tell him that he should just leave things be, but then I remembered that this was Ace who I was talking to. Knowing him, he would be likely to _not_ leave things be at all and come up with even more outlandish explanations, like something pertaining to the mafia or the secret service in the ministry, and then manage to convince himself that it would all be factual.

"As the supremely manly chief of the SOS Brigade, I cannot leave a mystifying event go uninvestigated!" he declared.

Oh brother, did he have to be so loud? Especially so early in the morning?"

"By the way, what's with your hair?"

"Don't ask," I muttered.

Ace looked affronted at my response, but it didn't matter. I couldn't find anything to tie my hair up with, so I figured I might as well come to school with my hair down. Besides, after nearly being slaughtered by a madman, I really have to re-evaluate how I view my life. Does this new look accurately depict what I'm feeling currently?

Having witnessed all this supernatural stuff firsthand and trying to tell myself that it never happened, I had to pick one of the following choices: I was either hallucinating, or something was wrong with my brain, or the world was strange enough already, or I'd had a very long dream.

There's no way I could admit the world was some sort of virtual reality.

Argh! A fifteen-year-old shouldn't have to face a life-changing crisis already!

Why does a first-year in high school like me have to deal with such philosophical inquiries, like whether the world was existent or not? Those weren't what I should be thinking about… I mean, shouldn't I concern myself with materialistic matters? Just like how Kuina and Nojiko live out their daily lives.

When the bell rang, a short man entered the classroom. I recognized him—he was the principle. He made an announcement that Kuro had made a job transfer. The students were stunned by this, and, like Ace, they questioned how a man can make a sudden move in one day. I was the only one who was unfazed because I was the only one who knew the truth.

XOXOXO

When I found another letter in my shoe locker, I felt my heart pound with dread, but then I took the moment to see that it was a bit different. For one thing, it wasn't just a scrap of folded paper without a name, but it was in a white envelope, and this one had a name: Tony Tony Chopper.

I stuffed the envelope into my bag and rushed into the girls' washroom to open it. The message was written neatly on a piece of notebook paper, saying, "I will be waiting for you in the clubroom during lunch break."

After what happened yesterday, my notion of reality had changed dramatically. Who cares about a boy professing his love to you? If this was another murder attempt, I never want to go through anything like that of the sort ever again!

However, there was no way that I could turn this down. I couldn't imagine Chopper doing anything like that, and even though I had no proof that this was by him, I couldn't deny its authenticity. He really did seem like the kind of guy who would pull an indirect, old fashioned way of conveying his words.

It was decided then. I would go to the clubroom to meet up with Chopper. But if he was actually trying to stain the floors with my blood then I'll count on Basil to be there to save my sorry butt.

By the time break came around, my mind was riddled with doubts…

Hey, I can't help it, okay? This was probably a life-or-death situation!

I started to wonder things like, "What if Basil wasn't in his usual spot in the clubroom?", "What if this letter wasn't by Chopper after all?", and "What if was another data entity like Kuro, out to kill me to provoke a reaction from Ace?" Thoughts and thoughts passed through my head.

My hair was in my eyes, so I brushed it back, remembering why I kept it in a ponytail in the first place. And as my hand touched the back of my head, I remembered why I was wearing my hair down at all.

For a silly moment, I felt like an ancient peasant farmer who had been dutifully stacking sod and straw, only to be surprised by a flash flood. For another moment, memory took me back to yesterday, when I was frozen in fear. Kuro was standing before me, his lips taking shape of a sinister smirk, his claw glinting from the sunlight that filtered through the windows.

His blades cutting my hair-tie when it was aimed at my throat. It was a brief tug at my hair.

And then a rush of reality hit me when there really was something tugging on my hair.

I was dimly aware of two things: a voice calling out to me, saying, "Oi, what are you doing, spacing out and playing with your hair?", and my hand suddenly on my bento.

The next thing I knew, I was standing rigidly, looking down at the desk behind me, and a cry ripping through my throat. My heart was racing and I felt completely out of breath. Ace was sitting there, blinking in what looked like shock, a small trickle of blood coming from his nose. My lunch was splattered all over him, and everyone in the classroom was staring at me.

I found my senses, coming to the world of consciousness.

Well, what had happened? It wasn't actually Kuro out to get me, for what I had a mental picture about, but, according to Nojiko, it was Ace who had reached out and tugged my hair while I was staring off into the distance. I had screamed "really loudly", so Nojiko assumed that he must have pulled too hard. I didn't bother correcting her.

Nojiko said that I screamed out a simple word of "No", and then she saw me shoot out of my chair and smack Ace in the face with my bento. "All in one movement," was what she said. And you know what happened then? She laughed. She laughed! She said that it was the weirdest thing she had ever witnessed, and she laughed. When Kuina returned to class, she had to wait until Nojiko could breathe again in order to hear the story. I wasn't willing to say anything.

Now, the next thing_ I_ remember, the teacher who had been there to witness the whole thing was dragging me to her office, where I had to spend the rest of break assuring her that I was just startled because Ace surprised me while I was nodding off. In all honesty, it seriously was a dream—no, a _nightmare_ that I put myself through.

Apparently, the other teachers had to make an even bigger deal out of it because they dragged Ace to the guidance counselor's office. The following period, Ace didn't show up to class, which was a blessing. Although, on the other hand, I was mortified—I was the object of everyone's attention.

I assumed that the teachers had sent Ace home, but his schoolbag was still here. He was skipping, I think.

Ace didn't show up for the period after that, either.

XOXOXO

Lunchtime came around and I was instantly surrounded by curious classmates who wanted to know what happened during break. I guess this was better than being interrogated by Kuina and Nojiko about what I was doing with Basil yesterday after school.

I was surprised that those two haven't confronted to me about it during break, although they could have been waiting to ask me during lunch. Seeing them coming towards me, I ducked under the crowd and ran to the clubroom.

I was breathless by the time I reached the entrance. Running was definitely not my forte.

Opening the door, I expected Basil to be inside already…but he wasn't there. Instead, there were two other people: One was a boy around my age with short curly flaxen hair. He was garbed in a blue jacket and a pair of dark jeans, obvious that he wasn't a student. The other was a young man, wearing a doctor's coat. This guy resembled Chopper.

They were sitting down on the chairs, their heads turning to me. I looked around and couldn't spot Chopper anywhere.

The man grinned. "It's been a while, Kyonko," he said.

My eyes widened.

There was a whistle.

"Ah, the tea's ready." The man got up. "Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable."

I blinked and looked at the boy, who smiled at me. Stiffening with nervousness, I sat down nonetheless, but, by no means, did I make myself comfortable. The situation was terribly off, and I couldn't tell what was going on. Who was this man who looked a lot like Chopper? And who was this boy who sat across from me? And why were we having tea?

"Here we go," he said, setting the cups down. "I hope I didn't mess up. It has been such a long time since I last been here."

"Nostalgic?" the boy said.

The man smiled. "Yes, it is."

That's when I couldn't take it anymore. "Uh, are you Chopper-kun's big brother?" I blurted.

He looked at me in surprise, and then chuckled. "No, no, it's me, Tony Tony Chopper, except where I come from is further into the future."

I couldn't envision the stupid expression of shock on my face, but I certainly felt it. I think I could believe anything after yesterday, so I did believe that this person was indeed Chopper from a farther future. Looking closely now, he not only did resemble Chopper, but he was quite handsome. He must have grown out of his childlike body and matured fully.

Leaning back against my seat, I sighed and pulled my bangs back against my scalp. "Alright, I'll believe you for now," I said.

He smiled. "You really do believe that I've come from the future to this temporal plane?"

"Sure." And then I frowned. "But…then wouldn't there be two Choppers right now?

"Correct. The me from the past is now sitting in his classroom, eating his lunch with his friends." He sat next to the boy and took a sip of his tea. "I want to thank you for coming here, Kyonko. I have an important message to tell you, so I got permission from my superiors to allow me to come here. Also, I asked Basil Hawkins to leave us for now."

So that's why he wasn't here.

"Kyonko," Chopper—well, the adult version of Chopper—started, appearing serious, "I cannot stay here for long, so I'll get to the point. Have you heard of _The Frog Prince_?"

"Well, yeah."

"Whatever you'll face from now on, I hope you'll remember that story."

I raised an eyebrow. "You mean the story where the prince was turned into a frog and a princess had to kiss him in order for him to change back?"

He nodded. "That's the one."

"But why do I have to remember it?"

"I'm sorry, but that's classified information," he said, smiling apologetically. "Just remember _The Frog Prince_, and all is well."

I pressed my lips into a thin line, wondering whether there was some sort of subtle message in knowing about the story, but couldn't detect anything. Well, whatever. "I'll remember it."

"Thank you." He smiled again, and then pushed himself up from his seat. "Well, I better get going—" His eyes landed on the clothes rack, and then shifted from foot to foot in an uncomfortable manner. "Oh, I remember this."

I guess he really was Chopper from the future if he were to remember the times when Ace forced him into weird costumes. "Did Portgas ever stopped dressing you up?" I asked, deeply curious.

"Eh heh, well, you'll see in the future, I suppose," Chopper chuckled nervously. He then straightened up and gave me one more smile. "Goodbye, Kyonko. It was nice seeing you. I hope that you'll be willing to hear one more message from Sabo-kun here." With that said, he walked out the room.

Sabo-kun? I turned to the boy, who drained his cup empty. "Mmm! Chopper makes the best tea," he said, smacking his lips. He lifted his head and grinned. "Oh, that was fast. I guess he left already, huh?"

I felt my forehead crease. "Um, so, who are you?"

"Sabo," he said, grinning in a similar fashion as Ace whenever he had a plan. "Not from the future, though a friend of Dr. Chopper's. I'm an alien."

My heart skipped a beat. "A-an alien? Wait, did you call Chopper a doctor?"

He nodded. "In the future, Chopper becomes a doctor, but don't tell his younger self that. And, yes, I am an alien, just like Law and Hawkins."

He didn't mention Kuro. Could it be that he wasn't out to kill me? I hope so. "W-would that mean that…you'll be around to observe Portgas D. Ace?" I inquired.

"Nope. I've been transmitted to this world to collect data from other regions, but once in a while I'll drop by, I guess."

He said that as if I'll miss his sudden company. "So what's your message for me?"

"Don't have one," Sabo chirped. He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a yellow ribbon. "I've just came to deliver this." When seeing my face, which I probably looked baffled, he launched an explanation. "For your hair. Your future self told me to give that to you."

"But I thought that you said you weren't from the future," I said, accepting the ribbon anyway.

"I'm not, but once in a while I do some time-traveling of my own. It kind of puts off the actual time-travelers," he said, chuckling a bit. "You know, this is the first time I've encountered you as a fifteen-year-old. I gotta say, you're still as short as ever."

"Am I always welcomed by your pleasant comments?" I muttered sardonically, shoving the ribbon in my pocket.

Sabo laughed. "Ah, you really haven't changed, Kyonko, whether you're from the past or future!"

As if I would know what I'm like in the future. I wonder how far into the future, though. He said that this was the first time he met me as a fifteen-year-old, so he was probably seeing an adult version of me… I wonder… Wait, does this mean that my life was still connected to paranormals? Gosh, did I ever go back to my life of normalcy?

I frowned lightly. "How do I know that you're not just pulling my leg? I mean, I thought that only time-travelers were the only ones who could travel through time, not aliens."

"That's because I'm…" he trailed off, staring blankly at the empty cup, and then he shook his head and smiled. "Never mind. Let's just say that I get special offers."

"So…does this mean that there are other aliens who can time-travel like you?"

"Nope. I'm the only one."

Sabo left after telling me that he had to go back to gathering data since it'd look bad if he was caught slacking off. So I found myself alone in the clubroom, feeling a bit perplexed. For something like this to happen… Well, never mind that now. I had a feeling that this wasn't going to end for the longest time, that a string of abnormalities will continue being part of my life. All because of what? All because of Ace.

Hearing my stomach growl, I figured that I might as well go back to the classroom and beg Nojiko and Kuina for food. Maybe if I continue to stuff my face, I wouldn't be able to answer their inquiries about what they had seen the other day. Ugh, if only I hadn't smashed my bento on Ace's face…

Then the door opened, leaving a Basil Hawkins standing there, face stoic as always.

"Oh, hi, Basil-sempai," I greeted half-heartedly. "Did you happen to see someone who looked like Chopper-kun passing by? Or how about this guy wearing a blue jacket?"

"I had seen Tony Tony Chopper's differential temporal clone already this morning," Basil intoned, moving silently to his usual seat, "along with a fellow data entity named Sabo. Tony Tony Chopper's future self had left this timeframe."

"Hmm. Sabo." I paused, not quite sure what to call him, but I shrugged and continued. "Sabo told me that he could time-travel despite being an alien. Can you do it?"

"Impossible," he said, cracking open his book. "No data entities posses the capabilities of traveling through temporal planes unless given warranties."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Too bad then, huh?"

"Too bad."

I smiled wryly to myself. It was pretty pointless talking to such a wooden person, but I wondered to myself why do I keep trying. I guess there was some part of me that hoped for Basil to open up from that shell of his. I wonder if my attempts were actually making a change or something. Probably not…

I got up from my seat and moved towards the door, but before my hand touched the knob, I said to Basil, "Thanks for yesterday, sempai."

He lifted his head and looked at me expressionlessly. "There is no need to thank me. Kurahodal was my responsibility, yet I was careless with my supervision." He dipped his head slightly—was that a bow?

I sighed, yet I felt a smile worming on my face.

XOXOXO

As I walked back to the classroom, I smacked right into a body of bulk. Looking up, I saw that it was Ace.

Whoa, was this fate or karma or something?

"I, uh," I sputtered, my mind running blank, yet my impulses urged me to say _something_. I never got the chance to, anyway, because Ace cut me off.

"Try not to space out in class," he told me, flicking me on the forehead. Ignoring my yelp of pain, he went on. "You know how hard it was to get that eggroll out? It slid into my shirt! Anyway, you act stupider than usual when you're sleepy, so be careful next time."

I guess he's alright when he starts insulting me.

"By the way, where did you run off to? I thought you'd be back sooner. I didn't even eat lunch because I was waiting for you."

Good, now you can share some with me. Kinda your fault that I don't have any lunch, in any case.

His expression contorted into that of impatience. "Jeez, you were supposed to follow me. Are you still sleepy or what?" Without warning, he hoisted me onto his shoulder and ran up the staircase.

"Whoa!" I cried, clinging desperately at his blazer.

"After I finally got out of the counselor's office, I went to ask a teacher in the staffroom. Apparently, the teachers only learned about Kuro-sensei's transferring this morning. Earlier in the morning, someone claiming to be Kuro-sensei's wife called, saying that they had to leave due to something urgent. And you know where they're moving? Canada. Canada! Sounds fishy, doesn't it?"

"Really?" I grunted, wincing when his shoulder dove right into my gut.

"After that, I asked if I could somehow get contact with him because he was my favorite teacher."

Oh please. You hardly even spoke to the man, not even spared him a glance when he was around.

"And you know what they said? They said that they didn't know! Normally, if someone were to move, wouldn't they usually leave some sort of contact info? I'm telling you, there's something weird going on here!"

"Or not," I grumbled, but my words, as usual, were wasted on him.

"So I asked for sensei's old address from before he moved. We're gonna go there and have a look after school. Maybe we can find something there."

I frowned. "Wait, 'we'?" I reiterated. "Why do I have to come?"

He looked over his shoulder, his eyes reading me as if I was retarded. "Because you're a member of the SOS Brigade, moron!"


	7. Am

Well, it looked like my pre-teen dream came true. I was walking home from school with a boy, just like a couple from TV dramas, but I'd be lying when I say I was truly tearing up inside from mirth. Actually, I felt as though I've been steamrolled a couple times and then left out in a desert for the vultures to do their pickings. At least, that's what my self-esteem endured.

Here we were, Ace and I, climbing down Mount Kangchenjunga and following the railway line. A little bit further would be Koyouen Station. As I followed Ace, who was reading the map closely, I slowly recognized the area—we were approaching Basil's apartment.

"Kuro-sensei lived in room 505," he murmured, eyes glancing up at the building.

"So, now what?" I asked. "The gate's locked," I pointed at the keypad by the intercom, "and you need to enter the correct code to open the door. Do you even know it?"

"No, but, luckily for us, I have a plan. We just need to wait."

Wait? Wait for what?

Eventually, a middle-aged man in a business suit opened the gate from the inside. After giving us a questioning glance, he walked away. Just as the gate was closing, Ace rushed forward and stuck his foot in between to prevent it from shutting completely, and then the doors pulled back open automatically.

Though it was a good idea, this would be considered as trespassing…

"Hey, hurry up, will ya?" He pulled me in by the sleeve of my cardigan, and then dragged me into the entrance hall. As if I wasn't capable of moving my two feet, he continued to drag me around and then yanked me in an elevator.

Completely, completely unnecessary.

"You know," Ace began, his voice working up a notch over this annoying elevator music, "it's not just this transfer that's weird. Kuro-sensei didn't have a documented teaching degree either."

That was to be expected, really, if you had the same knowledge as I do.

"I've done my research. You see, he was a scholarship university student in a big city, and yet he supposedly decided to become a teacher to the high school that we attend to. Now, why would an academic big-shot like him go through the trouble of becoming a teacher?"

I could have said something like how Kuro developed a spontaneous love for teaching the younger generation and that our school happened to be the same school he once attended to, but what would be the point in saying all that? It'd just fall to deaf ears, anyway. So I shrugged and let Ace go on with his rant.

"Yet he lives near the school, and it's one of those apartments paid by cash and not by rent. The price here must be insanely expensive. Hmmm." Ace rubbed his chin. "I guess we need to find out when Kuro-sensei started living here, then."

"Won't we need to find the caretaker first?" I said, quirking a brow. "I mean, you'd think that the door to Kuro-sensei's room would be locked, right?"

Ace fell silent, then scowled. "Shut up," he muttered, and then pushed the ground level button before the elevator would take us all the way to the fifth floor. Score one for me.

Returning to the ground floor, we went to the caretaker's post at the entrance hall. Sitting behind the window screen was an old lady hunched over her papers. Ace rang the bell that was situated by the screen, getting the lady to blink owlishly and scrabble at her desk, eventually pulling out a pair of butterfly glasses. By the time her eyes landed on us, Ace bombarded her with a flurry of words.

"Excuse me, we're students of Kurahodal-sensei. He suddenly said that he was moving without leaving his new address, and we don't know how to contact him. Could you please tell us where he had moved to? And could we please know when he started living here?"

I don't know if gaining a specific address in _Canada_ would be as simple as that.

In any case, I was amazed how Ace could actually be polite enough to say "Excuse me", but it was pretty pointless since the old lady seemed to have difficulty hearing. She kept repeating "What?" and "Come again?" while cupping her hand around her ear. Even though she had a tough time hearing, she certainly didn't have any difficulty roaming her eyes all over his face, a smile on her face.

I shuddered.

Ace must have not noticed because he leaned forward and shouted what he had just said. We learned that the lady was surprised that Kuro was suddenly moving out, mentioning that she hadn't even seen the movers to transfer the furniture. Additionally, Kuro had moved in five years ago.

Five years ago, huh?

"So he had a wife? I never knew that. Come to think about it, I never did see any of his family members come by. He was such a stern yet polite fellow, that Kurahodal-kun was. It's such a pity that he didn't stop by to say goodbye," the old lady sighed, shaking her head and not-so discreetly appraising Ace.

Ace bowed at the caretaker and said, "Thank you for your help." With that said, he motioned for me to follow after him. I didn't need any urging at all—I was eager to get far, far, far away from this apartment building.

Before I moved my feet, the caretaker called after me. "Hey, little lady! That boy's a looker," she whispered when I turned to her, "he'll grow up to be a nice man. If I was just my granddaughter's age, I'd go for him in a heartbeat, so don't let him get away! Tame him, and you'll be set for life."

The lady was obviously senile.

A few steps from the gates, we bumped into Basil who was carrying his schoolbag and plastic bags that seemed to be filled with groceries. I wonder if he knew how to cook.

Ace wore his surprise blatantly "You live in that apartment?" he exclaimed. When Basil nodded, Ace said, "Wow! Kuro-sensei used to live here too! What a coincidence."

Oh, Ace, if only you knew.

Ace grinned excitedly. "Have you heard the news about Kurahodal-sensei? You know, the homeroom teacher of class 1-5?"

Basil nodded again.

"Awesome! If you know anything about him, let us know, okay?"

Basil nodded again. Geez, was that the only thing he can do? Nod?

Ace walked away and I followed with heavy feet, only to acknowledge Basil by giving him a wave. When I passed him, I heard him whisper, "Be careful."

Be careful? Be careful of what?

Oh great, now I'm officially paranoid.

XOXOXO

"So, are we going anywhere else?" I asked, wondering if there was anything else to do other than walking aimlessly along the railway line

"Not really," he murmured.

"Then can I go home now?"

He suddenly stopped dead.

"Do you ever get the feeling that you're an insignificant speck on the face of the planet?" he said, his voice toning down to a mere whisper. "I have."

What…?

He glanced down at the railway. "When I was in fourth grade, my gramps took me and my brother to a stadium to watch a baseball game. I wasn't expecting anything other than getting a hotdog and a good game to watch, but by the time we got there, I was shocked. Everywhere I looked, there was a mass of people; the audience from the opposite side of where we stood looked like grains of rice. Curious, I asked my gramps how many people were at the stadium, and he said that, since it was full that day, there were about fifty-thousand people.

"After the game, the roads were packed with those people. Seeing all of this, I was completely stunned. There were so many people here, yet they were only a tiny fraction of the whole country. I had read in geography class that this nation had a population of a hundred million, so I went home and did the math. I found out that fifty thousand was only one out of two thousand of the total population. I was stunned again. I was just a small part of that audience, while that audience was a small fraction of the whole country.

"Before that day, I had always thought that I was someone special. I was happy with my family, no matter how annoying my gramps was and how silly my brother can be. I thought that the most interesting people were my classmates. I thought that my teachers were the kindest people ever. But, slowly, I began to realize the truth. Those things that I held up on a tall pedestal happened in every other family and school. For the whole country, the whole planet, they were everyday occurrences. Everything started to lose its color. I brush my teeth and go to sleep, then wake up and have breakfast. Go to school, learn, leave school, and the cycle starts again. Day after day.

"My life became boring when I noticed that everything I did was ordinary, that everyone does it. Since there are so many people in this world, there has to be someone who's living an extraordinary and exciting life. Someone out there has to be fighting monsters, rescuing princesses, and slaying giants. Why couldn't that be me?

"I thought about it until I graduated from elementary school. When I entered junior high, I decided to change myself. I'd show the world that I'm not someone who's content to just sit and wait. But even after I've tried my best…nothing changed. Now I'm in high school, still hoping for a miracle, but…would it still be possible?"

Slowly, the distant look in his eyes disappeared, his face then twisting in what looked like regret for saying too much. I was in no better position; I was awkwardly staring at the railway, hoping for something to break the tension.

A random idea popped in my head. Comfort him. As if I had the capabilities of comforting someone. I wasn't exactly the kind of girl who knew what to do in…emotive situations, I suppose. Maybe I should hug him. Or would it be better if I came up with something philosophical and inspiring? Should I say something lame to make him laugh?

"I'm going home now," he suddenly announced, marching on forward. I nearly stumbled on my feet to catch up to him, but I just stood there, motionless. It was as if his back read to me "Don't follow me" as I stared behind until he disappeared from my sight.

I looked up at the sky and blew my bangs from my face. Geez, what a day.

XOXOXO

I woke up to the clanking against my bedroom window. For a moment, I considered whether I should ignore the disturbance or see what was making all that noise. After a few minutes of listening to the glass of the window ringing annoyingly, I groaned and pushed myself off my bed.

I drowsily made it to the window and slide the window open, only to have a pebble being pelted at my cheek. "Holy ouch!" I cried, my hand flying to my cheek. Glancing down, I found Law below, smiling and mouthing, "Sorry." As if the jerk was really sorry; he just stood there, looking pretty darn amused.

"What are you doing here?" I called down to him as softly as I could. There was no way that I was going to risk waking my family all for this guy. "You were probably alarmed the neighbors of something."

"Couldn't find an even more romantic way to whisk the princess away from her castle," he replied with heavy, heavy sarcasm. I would have winced, but I was too tired to.

"No, seriously," I said, trying to equal him in dryness (it was obvious who the winning contestant was), "what are you doing here, Romeo?"

"I've come to keep my promise."

I frowned. "Um, last time I checked, you never did promise me anything."

"It's my self-promise, then." He adjusted his hat—a white fuzzy hat with black spots—and smiled enigmatically. "C'mon, I have something worthwhile to show you."

"Which is?" I prompted.

"My powers."

My eyes peeked at the sky. It was still dark out and I have a feeling that it was around midnight. "Right now?" I sighed.

"It's the only available time I can show you now," he said with a shrug.

Appraising him with a grimace, I then told him to wait for a bit—well, he did say that it'd be worthwhile. Closing the window, I hurried to throw on a sweater and socks, and then quietly traveled downstairs to not stir awake my family. Law met me in front of my doorstep, offering an arm, in which I shoved back into his chest, ignoring his snort.

"I don't even want to know how you found out where I live," I muttered.

"Wasn't going to tell, anyway," he said.

"So, I'm guessing that this has something to do with Portgas?"

He smiled. "Doesn't it always?"

I hung my head and sighed. I've known this guy for a few days and already he's getting under my skin, and I have a feeling that he knew it too. I _knew_ that he was a creep the first time I met him.

Law had a taxi cab already waiting near my place, and we rode off along the main road, heading eastwards. He instructed the driver to go to the large city outside the prefecture. I thought that it would be cheaper to go by train, but since it was Law who was paying for this ride, it didn't matter to me. Wait, did the train station even work this late at night? Whatever.

"Why do we have to travel this far?" I asked, staring at the passing scenery while wondering if my parents had noticed that I was gone yet.

"I can only use my powers under specific places and conditions. The area we're headed to fits those conditions."

"This is seriously about Portgas, isn't it?"

"Well, he is a god, after all," he said, rolling his eyes.

Right. And considering how the driver wasn't making a word about our weird discussion, addition to Law speaking freely about his powers, I guessed that it would be alright for me as well. "Law-sempai, remember when you told me that Basil-sempai was an alien like you? And that you two were under the same organization?"

"Yes."

"Well, he told me a different theory in contradiction to Portgas being a god."

Suddenly, Law threw his head back and laughed. I must have been watching him in bewilderment because he gave me an amused glance. "Sorry about that," he said, chortling.

"You're…weird."

"So I've been told." His dark eyes ghosted to his side of the window. "The organization is divided into three sectors: the agency, the observatory, and the constitution. All three are governed by the superiors who basically run the organization."

"Oh," was what I uttered. I have a feeling that this would become more and more complicated for my tastes.

"The agency sets the data in order if anything was out of its natural place; the observatory simply observes; and the constitution develops hypothesis and experiments. Each has its own theory; however, concerning Portgas-ya, but there are times when each sectors will collaborate to see whether each view offers a more logical side."

"I can imagine that there would be plenty of debates," I murmured.

"Exactly. Basil probably told you about how Portgas-ya's not a being of his own, but a soul fragment that was somehow extracted from his parallel self, right?"

I nodded. "This whole…parallel universe thing still catches me off guard. I mean, when you say a parallel universe, does that mean that everyone in this planet have a parallel self in that other world?"

Law shook his head. "Not really. Just people who are directly or indirectly connected to him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, take Roronoa Kuina for example."

I felt my forehead crease. "How do you know her?"

"Kyonko, ever since you became Portgas-ya's chosen one, there has been a plethora of data observations about you."

Suddenly, I felt vulnerable. Just because I became an interest of Ace, that would make me another test subject? Oh great, does that mean my privacy would be inconspicuously invaded now?

Law must have noticed my discomfort because he said nonchalantly, "Anything basic or would hold any value concerning Portgas-ya. It's not as if your weight or blood-type would matter."

"Oh gee, that sure makes me feel better," I muttered.

"Good. Now, as I was saying, Roronoa Kuina would have a parallel self because her brother, Roronoa Zoro, is a friend to Monkey D. Luffy, who is the adopted brother to Portgas-ya. Even though the connection would be vague, it's still there."

"How about you and Basil-sempai? I mean, unless there isn't another you in this world."

"No. Basil and I are entities of our own."

Chopper's face then popped in my mind. "How about Chopper-kun?" I asked. "You said that there was a Tony Tony Chopper in your world, only…he's a talking reindeer, as you mentioned."

He smirked. "I thought you didn't believe me."

"Yeah, well, that was before I nearly got killed by my alien teacher," I huffed, waving my hand dismissively. "Then a load of crazy stuff flashed before my very eyes."

"So I've heard. Anyway, I don't know why. It was the observatory that reached that conclusion." He shrugged. "Who knows? Even I don't have a hypothesis of my own."

For someone who seemed to hold all the answers, he did know very little. It must have been the confident way he carried his voice. Maybe I've just got to rely on Basil from now on, since he seemed well-informed, being an observer and all. But…what if Basil suddenly obtained an order from his superiors to kill me? Yeah, maybe it'd be best to give each other some space.

"Do I have a parallel self?" I asked. Hey, if Kuina get a replica of her own, why don't I?

Law shook his head (okay, I guess I don't have a clone). "That's a definite no. Only a particular sum of those around Portgas-ya, and perhaps a few scattered across the world, have a parallel self. The theory, however, is somewhat faulty, so if I were you I wouldn't think too much of it."

I blinked. "Does that mean that Portgas being a soul fragment isn't true?"

"Possibly. The organization possesses no hard-core facts, just theories. Actually, the only facts we know are Portgas-ya having an unusual link to his parallel self and that he has the ability to alter the data structure around him."

"Then the other Portgas," I began. "Does the organization run tests on him or observe him like the Portgas here?"

"That," Law said, "I cannot say. You might as well ask Basil."

Before I could open my mouth to something else, the cab suddenly jerked to a halt. If I didn't strap myself a seatbelt, I'm sure I would have flown off of my seat. Instead, the belt dug into my stomach as I released an "Oof!" Remarkably, Law didn't even budge from his seat. Maybe he secretly weighed over five-hundred pounds and wore a tall and lean boy costume as a delusion. I mean, he was an alien, after all.

"We're here," the driver grunted.

Law opened the door to his side and slide out. I followed the same suit, wondering what exactly "worthwhile" he was planning on showing me.


	8. In

It was a local metropolis with the railway interchange, as well as all sorts of department stores and complex architecture. Since it was late, all stores were closed, but there were some pedestrians wandering about, probably going to open bars.

Law placed a hand on my shoulder, directing me along with him so I wouldn't get lost. It was hard to see when a minimum of florescent lights were the only thing to push away the darkness. Eventually, we were walking side-by-side on the sidewalks, passing by the clothing departments.

"I should tell you," he began, "that Portgas-ya's inconsistent in heart. He does hope for the paranormal, but a little voice in his mind tells him that it doesn't exist, which creates cognitive dissonance. He may be someone extraordinary, but his mind functions like every other person. His alacrity for paranormal hunting had calmed down recently; we were glad to finally see him stabilize, but a rapid change occurred."

"What changed?"

"All because of you. If you hadn't given him funny ideas, we'd be still observing him from behind the scenes right now."

I sighed. "I get it! I'm the external factor, the chosen one, blah blah blah. And if I hadn't been so careless for giving him the idea of forming a club, then there'd be no trouble. Whatever."

"Right. Therefore, you must carry full responsibility for all of this."

"Something about the fate of the world is in my hands, right?" I muttered, pressing a hand to my face.

We walked towards an open area in the middle of the shopping center. Law looked at me and said, "This is where we stop. Close your eyes. It won't take long."

I looked at him askance, wondering if he was planning on pulling a prank on me, but I closed my eyes anyway. I felt his fingers wrap around my wrist, then pulling me forward. I obeyed by taking a few steps. One step. Two steps. Three steps. When he stopped pulling, I stopped walking.

"Open your eyes."

Opening my eyes, I saw the world in a shade of gray.

The vibrant florescent lights and the bright colors some of the stores displayed had all turned gray. Besides Law and I, the people had vanished along with the ever-present hum of machinery that filled the background noise in the city. Looking up, only the moon, although bigger than how it was before, was situated upon the dark sky, shining brightly.

It was so quiet.

"We're in a gap within a cross-dimensional fault-line. This is called Closed Space, a place that is completely cut off from the world you live in," Law explained, his voice echoing a bit from the emptiness of this place. "Here falls right by the wall of this Closed Space."

His outstretched arm stopped in midair, as though blocked by something. I imitated his movement and realized what stopped him. There was an invisible, elastic wall that couldn't extend any further than ten centimeters about. It was so cold to touch, like placing your hand inside a freezer.

"This Closed Space has a radius of five kilometers. Usually, it's impossible to enter using normal physical means. However, I have a certain ability that allows us to enter."

"Where exactly is this place?" I asked hesitantly. "Or rather, what universe are we in?"

"I'll explain as we move along," he said, moving forward. "We should go beyond the city where you can really see the extent of this place."

I didn't say anything as I hurried to catch up with Law. There was _no way_ that I was going to be left behind in this super eerie world. He crossed the street and headed towards an apartment complex while saying, "I don't have the exact details, but what I know is that this is a dimension located not far from the one you live.

"Let's say…it's a cross-dimensional fault-line just appeared right over there, and we have entered through the gap. As of right now, the outside world, the one that we know, is still progressing as it always has been. It's nearly impossible for normal humans to stumble upon this dimension accidentally.

"Closed Space occurs randomly. Sometimes it appears once every other day, and sometimes it appears once every several months. Yet, one thing is for sure is whenever Portgas-ya is in an emotionally unstable condition, Closed Space will appear."

We entered the complex without a problem since the doors weren't locked. There wasn't a single person, not even a speck of dust. I followed Law up the stairs and to the rooftop, finding it strange that there wasn't a breeze to brush against my skin.

"Once this dimension appears, I'll be able to sense it as well as others in the agency. As I said before, the agency is in charge of setting the data into its natural order, so, because Portgas-ya is in such a state, he warps the data until it becomes out of hand, we are to maintain it."

"Is this the part where you show me your powers?" I asked. I couldn't quite see his face under this peculiar darkness, and the silver beam the moon casted just made him look a bit creepier.

"Kind of," he said absentmindedly. "Look behind you."

"Huh?" I turned around, and then gasped.

It was taller than a thirty-floor story building by a head's length. Its slim, deep crimson-shaded figure seemed to contain some sort of material that allowed it to glow from within. I couldn't see its outline clearly besides the eyes and mouth, which were in a darker shade of red.

The giant slowly lifted its arm and then swung it down like an axe, and the building beside it was smashed in half; then, as if in slow motion, the concrete, wires, and debris made a deafening noise falling to the ground.

"It is believed that beings like this one are the manifestation of Portgas-ya's frustration," I heard Law continue. "Every time his inner conflict reaches a certain limit, these giants will appear and destroy everything around them to relieve pressure. We cannot allow these things to have their way in your reality or they'll cause widespread death and destruction. That is why this Closed Space is created, so that they can wreak their havoc inside."

Every time the glowing red giant waved its arms, the buildings would be sliced in half and collapse. The giant would then continue forwards, stepping on the debris. Surprisingly, though I could hear the buildings collapsing, I couldn't hear the heavy steps it made.

"According to the laws of physics, it should be impossible for a giant like it to be able to stand, due to its weight. Yet it is able to move around freely in a weightless condition. Though destroying a building involves a change in molecular structure, these rules don't seem to apply to it. Not even an army would be able to stop one of these giants."

"Then…what?" I asked helplessly. "Can this thing even be stopped?"

"Of course it can," he said, smirking a bit. "Only those who have eaten the Devil Fruit are able to."

"The what fruit?"

"The Devil Fruit. I'll explain about it some other time," he said, his eyes now glued onto a tiny figure that had entered the scene. I watched as well, focused on the dark dot that leapt from roof to roof until it was in close distance between the giant and itself. The glow of the giant shredded some light onto the figure, revealing that the dot was actually a person.

"Only one?" Law sighed. "More work for me…" He looked over his shoulder and sent his usual smile to me. "Look closely."

"At what?" I murmured.

"At this." On one hand, his fingers opened, and floating on his palm was a spinning translucent blue ring. My eyes widened at the sight of something quite out of the norm that I wondered if I was seeing an illusion. Suddenly, the spinning ring vanished. "Room."

"Wh-what?"

"Over there," he said, pointing at where the giant was. A large blue dome encased the giant, preventing it from smashing anymore buildings. As if furious by this, the giant raised its arms and brought them down with great force, but the dome remained intact nonetheless.

"Did _you_ do that?" I gasped.

He nodded. "It's called Room," he said. He lifted a hand and made a rotational movement. "Shambles."

I don't think it would have mattered whether I blinked or not; in an instant, the giant was cut into different sections—its head was decapitated, its torso was sliced in half vertically, its thigh was separated from its knee and hip, and so on. Then the person, who I'm assuming to be Law's fellow agency member, jumped inside the dome—how the person managed to get in I had no idea—and caused a piece of the giant to disintegrate like ash.

Other pieces of the giant were either destroyed by that person or already starting to lose its red glow and crumble away. I looked up at Law, trying to read his expression now that I was standing closer to him. He seemed to be ruminating something, and then shook his head. His hand fell, which caused the dome to disappear.

XOXOXO

Walking out of the apartment complex, we were met by a woman who, as Law pointed out, was the one who helped him obliterate the giant.

The woman wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses with a bandana tied on her head, keeping her long curly hair back. She was tall and incredibly voluptuous (_not_ that I cared), which stood out more when she was only donning a low-cut tank-top and tight-fitting jeans. However, what stood out the most was the fact that her arms were largely swelled like a pair of blimps while spikes protruded from them. She must have caught me staring in horror because she gave out an amused chuckle.

"Don't worry, kid," she said, smirking, "like Trafalgar here, I possess a power of my own."

"Don't tell her like that," Law said, rolling his eyes, "or she'll think that I can turn any part of my body into a spike too." He pressed a hand between my shoulder blades and pushed me forward, making me realize that I had been hiding behind him. "Kyonko, this is Paula, one of the ten in the agency who are currently sent to your world. She's eaten a Devil Fruit known as the Toge Toge Fruit."

The what what fruit?

"So, is this the external factor who's been messing with the organization's project?" she said, bending down a bit so that she matched with my height. Paula rubbed her chin and observed me up and down. Instantly, I felt uncomfortable.

"I'm afraid so."

"So how old is she? Thirteen?"

I sputtered. "I'm fifteen, thank you very much!" I snapped irritably.

"So she talks!"

"Excuse me?"

Paula barked a laugh. "I'm just joking with you, kid!" she remarked, patting me on the head, totally not making me sense that she was still joking. "Well, catch you later, Trafalgar. You too, maybe, kid." With that said, she strutted away, exaggeratingly swinging her hips side to side.

"Later, Paula," Law called after her. He smiled down at me. "Well, I think that had gone out rather smoothly, don't you agree?"

I punched him on the arm.

XOXOXO

We were heading back to where we first entered this place—Closed Space, I recall. I decided to take this opportunity to quench my curiosity.

"So, what's a Devil Fruit?"

"I don't know if I should answer that," he said instead, "since you brutalized my arm and all."

"Oh come on, you had it coming!"

"Say that to my arm."

Since Law thought it'd be funny to mess with me, I ignored him the rest of the way. I knew that one day he would tell me, but for now we might as well keep up with this childish silent treatment. Additionally, I caught Law smirking from the corner of my eye, so there was no way I was going to talk to him now.

We made it back to the open area of the shopping center. It was still empty and soundless other than the scuffling of our shoes and our breathing. Even though hot and cold didn't exist here, I would get shivers down my spine, as if I had brought the outside world's midnight chills with me.

"What now?" I spoke.

"Now you look up," he said, pointing upwards.

I did, and saw large cracks running across the gray sky. An image of a boiled egg with a fractured shell came to mind when my eyes were planted on the sky as the cracks spread quickly.

"After the red giant is destroyed, the Closed Space will also be destroyed," he explained.

The cracks were now a covering of the skies like a metallic net. The net margins started to narrow until they became as small as black curvy lines. Then, at that moment, silver light penetrated from a spot in the sky, stretching out in all directions. The light showered downwards, and that was when noise resonated in my ears.

I instinctively covered my ears, probably because I had been in a world of silence for a while, and I noticed how familiar the noise was. It was the usual bustling sounds in the streets and the mechanical hum in the city, and never had it been so deafening to me.

The world had reverted back to its original state.

There were no collapsed buildings, no shades of permanent gray…nothing that indicated that Closed Space had engulfed this area. A breeze brushed against my skin.

"The agency fights with giants like the one you've seen," Law said as we entered the taxi cab that had been waiting for us. "We call them Celestials."

"Celestials?" I murmured, looking out the window. Calling a gargantuan red being such a grand name? How weird. They were probably dubbed by those who perceived Ace as a god since these Celestials were linked to his emotional state.

"We cannot allow the Celestials to roam freely because the more damage these Celestials cause the larger the sphere of the Closed Space becomes. The one we were in previously was one of the smaller ones. If the agency were to leave them unattended, it'll continue to grow until it engulfs this planet, which will eventually replace this world."

"But how do you know that will happen?" I asked.

"I don't. That was what I was told by the organization." I swore I heard him mutter something about the constitution of the organization.

I never got to ask Law again about the Devil Fruits because I fell asleep during the rest of the ride. I guess all that excitement had me worn. When the cab stopped by my house, he woke me up before telling me, "Be attentive of Portgas-ya's action. His supposedly stable emotional state has now begun to show signs of rapid deterioration. It's been awhile since something like this has happened."

I frowned. "What difference would I make, anyway?" I grumbled, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"A lot."

I watched Law drive away in the cab, wondering what he had told me. I glanced at the sky and saw the sun peeking from the horizon. Oh great, I just lost five hours worth of sleep!


	9. Love

**AN:** This alternate world's Ace behaves differently than the canon version because Makino was never there to teach him manners.

XOXOXO

Irritated, I flung my hair off my face, only to have it fly back to my sweaty face. I was sorely tempted to scream out loud, but I had self-restraint. Kind of. Walking up Mount Elbrus did nothing to soothe my mood for this scorching hot weather. Whose bright idea was it to make kids go to school during the summer?

"Yo, Kyonko!" I heard Kuina call after me.

I gave her a small salute. "Yo."

We walked together in silence, and that was when my mouth ran off on its own. "Kuina, I'm a normal high school girl, right?"

"What?" Kuina gave a small giggle as though I said a funny joke. "I'm sorry, but please give me your definition of 'normal'. This conversation wouldn't make sense otherwise."

"I'm serious, Kuina," I groaned. I was in no mood in playing games, thank you very much.

"Alright, alright. Sorry to say this, Kyonko, but what normal high school girl would let a guy push her down in an empty classroom?" She waggled her eyebrows. "But don't worry! Nojiko and I vowed to keep this a secret between us since Basil-sempai _is_ rather cute."

I stopped dead. "How do you know his name?"

"Well, after witnessing you two the other day, we decided to find out who he was, so we browsed through the yearbooks and discovered who Basil Hawkins was."

"Ah." I continued walking. "I'm so sorry to say this but you've misunderstood the situation."

She raised a brow. "Oh?"

"Yes," I said, nodding. "Poor sempai was a victim of Portgas's unreasonable occupation of the literature clubroom, and, deeply troubled by this, he sought for help, thus asking me. He asked me if I could help Portgas give up his clubroom and go elsewhere."

I ignored the fact that she was not buying this and was rolling her eyes.

"I was so moved by his incredible pitiful-ness that I decided to help the poor man and discussed it with him in a place where Portgas wouldn't find us. As we talked about what we should do, Basil-sempai fainted due to his chronic anemia. I tried to catch him before he fell to the floor, but he was too big for me, so he ended up on top of me. Then that was when you and Nojiko came barging in. So now you know the truth."

"You are such a liar," Kuina scoffed, shaking her head. "You've got to tell that to Nojiko."

And so I did. When we met Nojiko along the way to school, I told her what I told Kuina.

"Seriously?" Nojiko laughed. "You can't believe that I'll fall for that, Kyonko. Haven't you heard that the infamous Basil Hawkins isn't the type of guy who'd go for that kind of approach?"

Basil's infamous?

"I did hear that he is very unsociable," Kuina joined. "I wonder if he speaks at all."

"Of course he does," I said. "He _did_ come to me for help, after all."

The two just snorted.

"By the way, Nojiko, am I normal?"

"Uh, what?"

"Kyonko asked me the same question," Kuina giggled. "I told her that no normal girl would let some guy push her down."

"I told you, he fainted," I sighed. Man, my lies are so unconvincing. I don't even know why I still try.

"Kyonko, you're a slave of Portgas-kun," Nojiko said, grinning. "If that makes you a normal girl, then I'm as normal as a water flea."

If we're going to talk about normalness... "Nojiko, do you have any super magical powers?"

She gave me a strange look before nodding seriously. "I see, so even you aren't immune to Portgas-kun's oddities. Kyonko, you're my friend, so I don't want you to take it the wrong way when I tell you not to stick close to me ever again. I don't want to be infected by the virus."

Nojiko and Kuina broke into uncontrollable laughter as I glared at them. I swear, even if she had been in the same class as Ace for three years, Nojiko's definitely not an alien. And since I'm in a particularly grouchy mood…

I stuck out my hand. "Nojiko, give me your phone's SD card."

"Huh?"

"You took a picture of sempai and me when we were in the classroom."

"Why, I would never—"

"Give it here."

After grumbling for a bit, Nojiko ejected the card from her phone and handed it over to me. Even though she wasn't the type of person who would showcase the picture to everyone, I didn't particularly feel safe with it in someone's possession.

…Besides, it's basically my photo, so I get to do whatever I want with it.

The three of us made it past the school entrance and up the stairs. I strolled to my seat, grateful that the school wasn't as hot as outside, and saw Ace sprawled all over his desk. He was looking out the window, appearing kind of downhearted. When he noticed me, he began to whine.

"Kyonko, I'm hot!"

"Really?" I said dryly, setting my schoolbag down.

"Fan me with your book."

"Instead of fanning someone else, I'd rather fan myself," was my retort. "I don't have enough energy early in the morning to fan you, anyway."

He ignored me, as usual. "Hey, what do you think that Chopper should wear?" he asked languidly.

Another costume for Chopper…?

"Maybe a catboy? Or a butler? I should probably cosplay him as a moe character."

"Maybe you shouldn't dress him up at all."

Ace didn't say anything. He just muttered, "I'm so bored," but all he did look was melancholy.

XOXOXO

After school, as always, I headed to the clubroom. Ace was on clean-up duty this week, so my walk there was free of his depressing atmosphere. Upon entering the clubroom, I was greeted by a cute maid who wore the brightest smile I've ever laid eyes on. I don't know why, but on the spur of the moment Ace decided that Chopper must wear his maid costume today. It was what Chopper told me that Ace had texted him beforehand.

Good grief, Ace…

"I'll go make tea," Chopper said, busting to the teapot.

I strode to the chief's seat, remembering that I had that SD card in my skirt pocket. I turned on the computer and plugged the card into the slot, transferring Nojiko's picture that popped up on the screen. Looking at Basil straddling me… Well, if anyone were to ever look at this picture while ignorant of the situation, they'd definitely misunderstand.

"Oh brother," I muttered.

"Did you find something?" Before Chopper placed a teacup on the desk, I hastily minimized the image.

Phew!

"Eh? What's this BLACKMAIL KYONKO folder?"

Argh! Dang it, Nojiko! And what did she mean by BLACKMAIL KYONKO? Was she planning on blackmailing me? That witch!

"Aahh, hmmm! Wh-what could it? Oh, probably nothing! Nothing at all!" I laughed nervously. I'm such a terrible liar.

Chopper grinned. "Reaaally? He moved closer to the computer and grabbed the mouse, moving the cursor to the minimized folder. Before he had the chance to click it, I dove in forward and tried to snatch the mouse from him, but he pulled away easily, and I only ended up reaching over his shoulder.

"Chopper-kun, please!" I begged.

"Come on, just a peek!" Apparently, Chopper was enjoying himself. He continued to pull the mouse away from my reach, making me wish that I was at least an inch taller, and then he made me chase after him for it. A hunch, I don't know what, but something like a hunch told me that the situation was going from bad to worse.

A hand reached from behind Chopper and plucked the mouse away.

"What are you two doing?"

We froze by the voice that was colder than absolute zero. Ace was standing there, looking down at us short people with an expression of pure contempt. Huh, I wonder how long he was standing there…

I slinked away from Chopper, who was still frozen.

"So, Chopper, you've managed to become bolder, I see. Good job. Congrats," Ace said in a chilling tone for whatever reason. I guess he was feeling particularly grouchy…?

Chopper blinked owlishly, looking very perplexed as he watched Ace walked around him and situated himself on the chief's seat. Ace's eyebrows shot up when he noticed something on the screen. "What the hell is this?" he muttered, his eyes zeroed in on what I was _so_ going to get Nojiko for later.

She's _toast_.

"Ah, um, I don't think—" I tried to distract him, warn him—oh, I don't know, just _anything_ to keep him away from clicking that folder! But my attempt was cut short when he did click on it.

I flinched when his eyes became as wide as saucers, his stare so absorbed into the picture before him that it seemed as though he was trying to commit it to memory. Then his eyes narrowed, and, without looking at me, he said, "So, you're interested in serious bookish guys, eh, Kyonko?"

"Uh…" I didn't know what to say.

"When was this taken?"

"Two days ago…"

Ace set a chilly glare on me, which reminded me his prior glares back then during the first couple days of school. "That was when you started wearing your hair differently. Did he tell you that it looked better on you that way?" he angrily demanded, pointing at Basil _who wasn't even looking up from his book_ (seriously, Basil?). "Because that is the most stu—"

"Shut up, moron!" I snapped, growing immensely irritated by his irrational thinking. My fists were clenched at my sides. "Don't misunderstand!"

I was now on the verge of literally tearing my hair from my scalp, like a volcano erupting within me from all the pressure I've tried to contain when dealing with Ace's antics. Oh, and it wasn't just the spontaneous club idea or the hair yanking or the mood swings he would throw out every now and then.

This guy, despite being so ignorant of what impact he can make on the world, was so incredibly dim-witted and selfish that he only paid attention to his needs! To his wants! Just like that, he could send those red giants running across the planet because he would be, what, emotionally unstable? Give me a break!

Sadly, I didn't get such luxury like getting a break. His glare darkened as he spoke in a harsher tone, "I'm not misunderstanding anything! You're forbidden to do anything like that ever again, you hear? This is your chief ordering you! I don't want you to even so much talk to Basil, got it?"

"You can't tell me what to do!"

"Of course I can, you idiot! I'm your chief, and as your chief—"

And then I said something that I would regret later.

"Shut up! Stop acting like you're special! You're just an ordinary human being like everyone else! You can't go up making rules however you feel like it!"

Although it was best—_definitely_ best—for me to show him up like that, Ace wasn't the kind of guy who would let words sink in and shape him up. Oh no, he was the kind of guy who would perform his own desires and ideals. I suppose he was an admirable kind of guy, but that could also lead to immaturity.

And loads of Celestials.

The thought about Celestials came across my mind as Ace towered over me with his glower, gnawing his lip. I stared back at him, vaguely wondering if he was the type of boy who would hit girls. Like that's common, although just last week, Kuina told me she witnessed one of our classmates's boyfriend hit her for "speaking out of hand". I've definitely done that, so I waited, anticipating what could be Ace's next move.

Instead of hitting me, he breezed past me, grabbed his schoolbag, and stormed out of the clubroom, slamming the door behind him. Chopper looked at the door with wide eyes while Basil just…flipped a page from his book.

Silence…

Then the door opened again, and standing at the entrance was Law. He gave us curious looks before saying, "I saw Portgas-ya running down the hallway. Something happen?"

"Nothing happen," I found myself speaking, my voice not wavering how I expected it to. I moved to the computer and exited the folder, then pocketed the SD card. "Portgas just wasn't feeling well."

"You sure? He looked like he just had a fight with someone."

"…"

"…"

"…Wanna play poker?"

And so that was how Law and I were sitting on the chairs, amusing ourselves with a game of cards. Eventually, I grew tired of losing (how a guy could be such an expertise on poker I'll never know) and settled on trying to build a pyramid. Chopper was quick to overcome his shock and laughed and how much we were failing since the cards kept falling. Basil kept reading.

I was confused as to why we were still here… No, it wasn't that Ace was gone now, but the fact that the SOS Brigade's activities were so…simple. Have we even done anything other than steal a computer and enforce costumes on Chopper? What happened to the club that was supposed to do something interesting each day?

It was thanks to Ace's stupid club that I couldn't focus on my studies. It was like the idea that I was a member of the SOS Brigade kept haunting me whenever I'm back home, pencil in hand and notebook sitting before me, keeping my mind occupied other than academics. Argh, and I was doing so well, too, before I gave him the blasted idea! Well, looks like I couldn't fulfill this year's resolution.

Yet, even so, I wasn't completely discontented, was I…? I mean, never would I imagine encountering a Parallel Conscious Transplant Entity who would save my life, a cute boy who could time-travel, or another alien who could use super powers to destroy red giants from overtaking the world. I was just a normal high school girl, right? So why would I expect something abnormal happening to me?

I guess I could admit that I always wished for something like this to occur, like aliens or fairies or beasts… I don't know, I'm more fantasy-inclined than Ace's science-fiction. When did I ever give up on hope and looked at tomorrow as another repetition of my boring life? Wasn't it when I was a little girl, I would caress the precious dream of going to Wonderland? So when did that evaporate?

I was still angry at Ace for trying to dictate my life, but I did have to thank him for proving my gray world wrong. There really were outrageous mysteries out there, and who would have thought that there would be another galaxy?

But I still had to wonder why it was me who Ace decided to be the first member of his SOS Brigade. Was it because I gave him the idea to form a club? In the end, there'd be no predicting him because only one person knew how his mind worked, and that was Portgas D. Ace himself.

XOXOXO

That night, after eating dinner, taking a bath, and finishing my homework, I plopped on my bed and pulled the covers to my chin. I grabbed the book that Basil had given me and read a few pages before turning off the light.

You'd think that by the time your eyelids start to get heavy and your mind blanks out, you'd find yourself to a new day afterwards, right? You might find yourself a dreamless sleep, or one in the most peculiar of dreams. A nightmare, even. Well, I wasn't exactly what I was in, but I suppose it would be appropriate to call it a nightmare.

Instead of hearing Wataru calling "Kyonko, wake up!" or the alarm clock ringing, a hand was shaking me awake. I felt my brows furrow in annoyance, and I swatted the hand away.

"Kyonko…"

Ugh, I wanna sleep…

"Wake up."

Just a few more minutes…

"Wake up, Kyonko!"

No…

"Oi! I said wake up, dammit! Wake up!"

Two hands gripped my shoulders, now shaking me vigorously so that the back of my head banged against the hard floor. My eyes snapped open, already watering in pain.

And by hard floor, I registered that this was not my bed. I sat upright, disoriented. I was surprised to see Ace kneeling next to me and donning his school uniform, his face white from anxiety. I got the memo that I wasn't in my bedroom.

"Ow," I murmured, my fingers going to the sore at the back of my head—and, holy crap, my hair was in a ponytail! What gives?

"Sorry about that," he said. "Do you know where we are?"

Well, by the looks of it, we were in school… Aaaand something was terribly off. Ace and I were at the staircase in front of the shoe lockers. There were no lights on, and it appeared to be nighttime considering how dark it was by the entrance. A familiar eerie glow that was casted by the moon was what made it possible for me to see Ace, and that was when I knew exactly where we were.

We were in Closed Space.

Getting up, I noticed that I was wearing my uniform too. Just what is going on? Why were we in school? And why was my hair back in its ponytail?

"When I woke up, I found myself here with you by my side," Ace said in a hushed tone. "What's going on? Why are we here?"

That's what I wanted to know.

"Portgas, are we the only ones here?" I asked.

"I think so. Do you have any idea what's going—"

"Wait, so you haven't seen Law?"

"Law? No… Why'd you mention him?"

"Because I have a feeling that he would know what's going on," I said truthfully. Not waiting for his response, I added, "Let's get out of here. Maybe we'll run into someone."

When I strode forward, I was a bit surprised to hear him following behind. "How come you don't seem worried?"

"I am," I sighed. Heck yeah I'm worried! We're stuck here in Closed Space without Law or that lady (Paula, I think) in sight. Additionally, I'm somehow stuck here with Ace! Are we supposed to wait for a rescue team or what?

By the time we made it to the school entrance, we were blocked by an invisible wall. I still recalled that cold elastic barrier from before. Did this surround the entire campus?

"What is this?" I heard Ace mutter.

We walked along the track field and traced the wall. It seemed that we really were trapped inside the school.

"Let's look for a phone," I suggested. I didn't know how long it will take for one or more Celestials to come out, but it sure wouldn't be wise to stick out here when they do. But if Closed Space was how Law described it to be, then gaining any receptors would be futile. Though it wasn't as if we could just stand here, doing nothing.

Ace and I treaded through the dark, sharing an atmosphere of anxiousness. The switches didn't give the lights we desired and the phones we found in different rooms didn't work. This unnerved me greatly, but there was no way that I was going to show Ace that.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't get to keep with my bravado. We went to classroom 1-5, deciding that we could find out what was going on the top floor. Suddenly, a deep sound, like thunder deep from earth, resounded from outside to the interior of the building, causing me to yelp and grab a fistful of Ace's sleeve. It was on reflex, I swear!

He glanced sideways at me. "If you're scared, grab onto my arm. It'll look more natural that way."

"Shut up," I said, letting go.

Ace didn't reply because when his eyes met the window, he was awestruck. He moved to the window wordlessly, taking in the view of a dark gray world that surrounded us. Not a single light or person could be seen. Everything was still. Everything was quiet. Just like the Closed Space that I entered with Law.

"This is weird," he said, crossing his arms.

I second that notion.

Since we didn't know where else to go, we went to the clubroom. Much to our shock, the room was lit. Ace busied himself by testing out the radio and checking every nook and cranny. The radio didn't work and there wasn't a single cobweb. I calmly watched him pace around the room in frantic frenzy, counting how long it'll take for him to go ballistic.

It took nineteen seconds.

"Just what is going on here?" he cried, throwing his arms in the air. "I don't get it! What is this place? Why am I here?" He stopped by the window and faced outside, appearing rather troubled. "Why am I stuck with you…?"

I frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

A scowl bloomed on his face, reminding me of that argument we had. "I'm going to look around some more," he grumbled loudly, and then proceeded to leave the room. "You stay here. I'll be back."

Oh great, he abandoned me.

I sighed and reclined back into my seat. When Ace's footsteps couldn't be heard anymore, a blue sphere the size of a tennis ball popped right before me, glittering like…uh, like glitters and anything shiny.

"Uhh…"

"Kyonko, can you hear me?" came a voice from the sphere.

My eyes widened. "L-Law?"

"Yes, it's me. Are you safe?"

"Well, um, yeah! Jeez, what took you so long?" I then gasped. "Don't tell me that's your true form!"

"Don't come up with ridiculous conclusions, Kyonko," drawled Law's voice. The light from the sphere flickered. "This isn't a normal Closed Space and I can't stay in touch for very long."

"What's going on? Is it just me and Ace here?"

"Yes, and apparently Portgas-ya had grown tired of reality and decided to create a new one."

Why do I get the feeling that it's all my fault?

"The organization is in panic, trying desperately to—" Suddenly, he was cut off when the sphere flickered again.

"Law?" I called out. "Law?"

"You and Portgas-ya disappeared from your world," he said, not picking up from where he left. "The dimension you're in isn't exactly Closed Space, but the world that Portgas-ya made."

"Okay…but why am I here?"

"Haven't you realized it yet?" It sounded kind of funny to hear the tinge of exasperation in Law's voice. "You're his chosen one. The one that Portgas-ya truly wants to be with." The light flickered again, but this time it went on for a while. "I'm close to my limit. At this rate, I'll never see you again; on the other hand, I'm kind of relieved that I no longer have to go hunting after Celestials anymore."

"What? So I'm stuck here with Ace?"

"Well, I guess this makes you two like Adam and Eve, right? The only two humans on earth, so have fun on this other earth," he said jovially.

Have _fun?_

"What are you saying? That I repopulate the earth with Ace? That I pop out a couple dozen babies with _him_? Is that what you're saying, Law?" I said, trying to swallow down the rising hysteria. "That is _not_ funny, Law!"

"Hey, I heard that childbirth gets easier after you had your first."

"…If I ever get out of here, I'm going to do more than brutalize your arm, Trafalgar!"

"Alright, I'll be serious. Listen to what I have to say. Right now, this closed state is temporary, but soon it will become its own actual world." The sphere flickered again. "There's no way of knowing what will happen to the original world."

"Is that what you've been told?"

"Of course."

I chewed on my inner cheek. "So there's no way back to the original world?"

"If Portgas-ya wishes it, it might be possible. I'm about to go, so I'll quickly relay the messages that Basil and Chopper gave me. Chopper said, 'I'm sorry. It's my fault.' Basil said, 'Turn on the computer.'"

What did Chopper have to apologize for?

"Law," I began, but the flickering of the blue sphere became frantic.

"Goodbye, Kyonko," he said before the sphere vanished like a candle flame being blown away.

I stood there for a moment before moving to the computer and turning it on. The monitor beeped, but the screen remained blank. As I settled down to the chief's seat, a stream of white typing came across the screen. I blinked when I read what it said.

HAWKINS B Can you read this?

I reveled at the conception of communication at long last before typing back.

_Yes_

HAWKINS B I have not completely lost contact with the world you are in, but that is only a matter of time since the disconnection should occur soon. This will be our final conversation then.

_Then what should I do?_

HAWKINS B I do not know. The abnormal data spurt disappeared from this reality. The Integrated Data Sentient Organization is very disappointed by the fact of losing a prime experiment to study.

My life is at the line here and the organization was worried about their little test subject?

_Tell the organization to suck it up._

There was a pause. Was Basil seriously conveying my words to the organization? Holy bleepers, that'd be embarrassing! Somehow, I could easily picture Law snorting in amusement if that ever happened.

HAWKINS B I'm betting everything on you.

I blinked.

_Everything on me for what?_

HAWKINS B I hope that you and Portgas D. Ace can return to this world. Portgas D. Ace is an important observation target, something that might happen once in this galaxy. Other than that, I also wish—

The color of the words began to fade as the electricity supply became weaker.

HAWKINS B Let's go to the library nest time.

Next time? Will there even be a next time?

The screen grew darker. I tried to adjust the brightness of the display, but no avail. Just before everything was gone, Basil typed three more words.

HAWKINS B The Snow Queen

The sudden sound of the monitor whirring loudly made me jump in my seat. The access lights on the CPU flashed on and off. The computer fan was the only thing that could be heard in the clubroom.

The Snow Queen.

_The Snow Queen_?

Did Basil mean by the fairy tale of a brave little girl going out in search of her true love, overcoming trials life landed her in until she was finally reunited with her guy? But that didn't sound right… I know Basil loved to read, but _The Snow Queen_? Really? Unless there was some meaning behind those words that he sent me…

Hmm. A girl going through trials. Her true love. The witch who lived in the snow…

Gah! I don't get it!

XOXOXO

There was a red light shone from outside.

I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw a Celestial standing in the courtyard, being so close that it just looked like a huge red wall.

"Kyonko! Something appeared!" Ace burst into the room and squeezed beside me to stick his head out the window, his mouth agape. "What the hell is that? It's huge! Is it a monster?" I could literally feel his anxiety washing away into excitement, his face about to rip from the wide grin he was sporting. "Is it an alien? Or maybe a super weapon created by ancients waking from its long slumber? Is it the reason why we're stuck here in school?"

The red wall moved. The giant swung its arm and smashed the floor above us. A violent tremor ran the building. This caused the ceiling to cave in, in which a rain of debris came hailing down. My body fell stiff, so I guess I was lucky that Ace brought me down, his body shielding me.

"Th-thanks," I stammered. "Are you okay?"

He coughed, but grinned that same excited grin. "Heh, this is nothing." As he got up, plaster dust and chunks of the ceiling slid off his back. "C'mon!"

He grabbed my wrist and dashed out of the room and down the stairs. Figuring that I was too slow to keep up with him, he whisked me off my feet into my arms, commanding, "Put your arms around my neck."

I was too startled to say anything, so I obeyed. With speed of someone who would have been an ace of the track team, Ace bolted out of the school in nick of time. From behind, I couldn't help but stare in horror as the Celestial rammed its fists into the old complex.

Ace ran a good distance from the school buildings, laughing the whole way like some sort of maniac. Soon, he set me down, not one pant coming from his lungs (man, wasn't I even heavy for him?). We turned around together, and found that more red giants had joined the first one, lethargically tearing down the place. They all came together like a huge red glowing lamp.

Ace leaned to my level and whispered in my ear, "Do you think they'll attack us? I don't think they're evil. What do you think?"

"I don't know," I whispered back, thinking about what Law said when he brought me inside a Closed Space. If these Celestials continued their rampage, then the result of their destruction will eventually replace the original world…

According to Law, Ace was creating a new world. What will happen to Nojiko and Kuina? My parents and little brother? Will Chopper exist in this world? I don't know about Law or Basil since they come from a different universe. And will this world be a surreal one where these Celestials walk around freely? Then aliens, monsters, and the like will be something common, right? If that's the case, what role will I be playing?

Ugh, forget it! It's useless trying to think with Ace's logic.

"What's really going on here?" Ace said. "Whether it's this place or these giants, it's so weird."

What's going on? Where are we? What are those things? What do we do?

Blah, blah, blah, blah!

Question after question, does he really expect me to answer them? Like I could answer him!

"Don't you want to go back to the original world?" I asked, looking up at him carefully.

Ace's once bright eyes now darkened. "What?"

"We can't stay here forever! With that invisible wall around the campus, we've got nowhere to go. With these giants destroying everything, where will we find shelter? And where will we find food? In the end, we'll just die, Ace!"

"Don't worry!" he said, his grin returning. "Things will eventually sort themselves out, I'm sure of it. Don't you find this exciting, Kyonko?"

"What about the SOS Brigade?" I tried again. "You made the club! You're just going to leave it?"

"I don't give a damn anymore! I'm experiencing something new here, so there's no need for me to go out and search for mysterious events."

"But_ I_ want to go back!"

The giants momentarily stopped in their demolition of the school.

I continued. "Before we ended up in this strange world, I didn't realize how much I liked my life the way it was. There were Kuina and Nojiko, Basil, Law, and Chopper! Even the long-gone Kuro," I rambled, grasping desperately on what I could do to make Ace see sense.

"What are you talking about?" he said, his smile wavering. "We'll see them again, don't worry. This world won't be covered in darkness forever. Once morning comes, the sun will come up. I'm sure of it!"

"No, not here. I want to go back to the original world!"

"I don't get what you're talking about." Ace turned back towards me, scowling at me like a kid who just had every birthday gift snatched away from him. "Aren't you sick and tired of that boring world as well? There's nothing special in the normal world at all! Don't you want to experience something interesting as well?"

"I used to think like that."

The giants started moving. One kicked the remaining parts of the school complex and headed for the courtyard. On the way, it swiped at the school corridor with its arm and gave the piles of rubble a huge kick.

Without the agency to stop them, these glowing red giants continued their destruction without delay. I couldn't understand why Ace found all this intriguing instead of terrifying, especially now when they moved their arms the material they touched faded into nothingness.

In a moment, half the school was gone.

I didn't know how long this could keep up or if this dimension would expand even more for the Celestials to continue their demolition. Right now, my mind was still full of uncertainty. If at this instant, an old drunkard sitting beside me in a train was to say to me, "Let me tell you a secret that you can't say to anyone else! I'm actually an alien," I would have believed him right away. The number of mysterious events I've experienced has now increased by infinity compared to a month ago.

What exactly could I do? If it were a month ago, maybe I wouldn't have thought of anything, but right now I knew what I had to do. I've already received so many hints.

It flashed through my mind.

_The Frog Prince_. The older Chopper from a further future said to remember _The Frog Prince_.

And Basil mentioned _The Snow Queen._

My mind went back to _The Frog Prince_.

To Basil, Chopper, and Law, Ace might be something…big. Because of his data flare thingy. Oh, I can care less! To me, Portgas D. Ace was nothing more than a fellow classmate. An annoying good-looking guy who sat behind me in class. He was just a boy who yearned to be something special, and, without knowing it, he actually was something special. He was an ordinary person who was extraordinary.

But… Seriously? I'm kind of tempted to ignore what older Chopper had told me, but I'm in a bit of a hurry here. I could practically hear one part of my brain screaming against it and another rooting for it. Good flippin' mushrooms, this was going to be hard…

I grabbed Ace's tie and pulled him down so that we were meeting eye to eye. We were so close that I could count the number of freckles on his face. He was giving me a wide-eyed look.

"K-Kyonko?"

"You got it all wrong before, Ace."

"Huh?"

"I'm not into bookish types at all. I'd rather have a guy who can lift me up in his arms."

"What are you talking about?"

This dense idiot!

I prepared myself and plunged my face forward so that our lips met.

To be honest, I didn't focus on the kiss at all. My ears strained to listen to the rumbling in the distance, and I wondered if what I have done was all for nothing. Then, suddenly, I lost my balance and fell downwards. Everything felt like it was turning upside down. No matter what I did, I couldn't keep my balance.

I fell to the cold, hard ground, and then…I opened my eyes I found myself on the floor of my bedroom.

There was dried drool on my chin.

XOXOXO

Yeah, I know. I saved the world and all that, yet I couldn't get a night of peaceful sleep after my heroic deed.

I felt absolutely terrible. I nearly went on my fours and climbed up Mount Lhoste in order to get to school. This was torture, especially when the sun had to release an inundation of heat that possibly had endless nuclear fusion. Can't the sun take a break or something? I'm going to fry to death!

I needed a shower. I needed a freezing cold shower right now.

On my way to the entrance, I remembered what Sabo had given me. I dug into my pocket and pulled out a yellow ribbon, using it to tie up my hair. I sighed when a slight breeze brushed up against my sweaty neck.

I dragged my feet up the stairs, and then into class 1-5, stopping three steps from the window.

Ace was there in his seat, grinning. "Yo, Kyonko. I wanna say that I'm sorry about yesterday. I overdid it a bit."

A bit?

"Whatever," I said, placing my schoolbag down. "It's over and done with. Doesn't matter."

Ace actually looked concerned when he surveyed me. "You okay? You don't look so good."

"I feel miserable," I cried, plopping down in my seat. "Had a nightmare last night."

"Really?" His grin was quick to come back. "I had a fantastic dream!"

Yeah, I'm sure you did.

"Hey, Kyonko," he spoke again.

"What?" I grumbled, looking out the window.

"You look great in a ponytail."


	10. With

**AN:** I accidentally posted the wrong chapter. Thanks so much, Ashlyn-i!

XOXOXO

On my way to the bathroom during lunch break, I met Law in the corridor.

"Hey, I really should thank you from the bottom of my heart," he said, smiling enigmatically. "This planet has remained unchanged. On the downside, I'll have to continue my work."

I rolled my eyes.

"Of course, it'd be possible that this planet was only created last night. In any case, it's an honor to have known you and Portgas-ya. I hope I get to learn more about you," he said, walking past me with a wave of his hand. "See you after school, Kyonko."

I went to the clubroom in the old complex later and found Basil in his usual spot. He looked up at me and said, "For three hours, you and Portgas D. Ace had disappeared from this world."

"I'm reading the book you lent me," I told him. "I should be able to return it to you in a week."

"I see," he responded without looking up.

I knelt down in front of him and looked up. "Basil-sempai, can you tell me if there are many others like you on this planet?"

"Plenty."

"Does that mean there will be those who might attack me like Kuro did?"

He set his book down on his lap and locked his eyes with mine. "I won't let them," he promised.

I smiled.

XOXOXO

After school in the clubroom, I met Chopper. When he saw me, he nearly went in fits of tears and practically threw his arms around me. "I'm so glad you're alright!" he wailed. "I-I thought that you w-wouldn't be able to come back!"

"Chopper-kun, are you okay?"

He then gasped and backpedaled away from me. "N-no! I shouldn't be doing this! If Portgas-kun sees this, the same thing will happen again!"

Law conveying Chopper's apology came to mind, and I realized what it was about. He must have thought that we goofing around together had elicited rage from Ace. Well, I guess that's partially true. I mean, if Ace were to see us like that in any other day, he wouldn't overreact like yesterday. Besides, today, he's in a good mood, so if he were to be here right now…

Someone cleared his throat loudly. Turning around, we found Ace by the doorway, wearing an evil smile.

"Having fun, Chopper?" he said as he lifted the paper bag he was carrying. "Congrats!" He hummed a cheery tune, skipping towards him. "You've gain a level in manliness! Come! Time to change!"

Chopper recoiled in fright, but with Ace's swift moves, he was dragged down while crying, "Noooo!"

"Stop moving! Resistance is futile! This time it's a butler costume! Aren't ya glad that you don't have to cross-dress anymore?"

I went out the room, sighing. Although I felt sorry for Chopper, I was kind of looking forward seeing him in his new outfit. I'm sure he'll look ultra cute as a butler.

XOXOXO

I finally handed the SOS Brigade application form to the Student Council, but made a couple alterations to it.

Instead of writing down "Saving the world by Overloading it with fun—Superbly awesome brigade", I changed it to "Support Organization for the Student Council Brigade". I also included the club's activities to "providing all sorts of consultation services to any problems people may encounter at school, and to actively participate in local community services."

Frankly, I didn't know what I put. I just put it on the application form just to sound smart.

Anyway, the Student Council accepted it and now the SOS Brigade was officially a club. If I hadn't made any changes, there'd be no doubt that the form wouldn't be accepted. Applause for Kyonko.

When I spilled the good news to Ace, he was eager to carry out the club's first actual activity: wasting a whole weekend by looking for the paranormal. Again.

Apparently, the two aliens and the time-traveler said that they couldn't make it because they had something important to do. If I hadn't known better, I'd say that they were purposefully ditching. Ace didn't seem to have any qualms about it, so I ended up waiting all along for Ace at the train station.

Ace gave me the designated time for us to meet up, and I decided to come thirty minutes earlier. There was no way that I was going to be scolded for being late again.

Eventually, Ace arrived, looking surprised to see me here already. He grumpily raised a hand in greeting and walked towards me. I smiled in thought whether he was upset that perhaps having a low attendance was a bad thing or that he was going to be fined due to the club's unwritten rule. Of course, Ace will have to pay for the both of us in the café.


	11. You

**AN:** Season 2!

XOXOXO

Today was such a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly, the sky was a clear blue, there was a soft breeze in the air, and the birds were singing lovely. And just what was the SOS Brigade doing? Staying indoors, basically procrastinating. In addition to that, we members of this oh-so amazing club were waiting for our chief, wherever he had ran off to.

This was kind of sad. If this was last year, you'd find me soaking up the sun's warmth, taking a nice nap on a bench. But, instead, I was playing a board game with Law, who was no doubt cheating every time, while listening to Chopper preparing tea. I don't even need to see or hear Basil flipping the pages of his book, reading.

Before I got my chance of accusing Law for cheating, the door slammed open. Ace leapt onto the table and announced in a very loud voice, "Good news, everyone! I entered us into a baseball tournament!"

It was a day in June, and it had been two weeks since my "nightmare". Since then, my mind has been completely put off from my studies, and now my test results were becoming a real life nightmare. And, despite how it didn't seem as though he was paying attention in class, Ace's results made it to the top ten.

So, by irony's account, I'm in hell due to my grades and now I find Ace, the guy who happened to have an intellect of Einstein, dumping barmy news about us entering a tournament. What the heck?

Chopper seemed puzzled by what our chief suddenly spouted out. Law was inspecting his nails. Basil was reading.

"…"

I sighed and slung my arm around the head of my chair. "What'd you say you entered us in?" I asked since _no one_ _else_ was going to say anything. It seemed that I always had to make a response on behalf of the club members. Chopper was either too scared or bewildered to say anything. Law was here just to gratify Ace with his mysteriousness. Basil would just…read.

Was there anything else that boy found fascinating other than reading?

Ace grinned and shoved a piece of paper in my face. "This."

I took the paper from his hand and read it aloud, "The Ninth City Amateur Baseball Tournament." It was probably a tournament to decide which baseball team was best in the city. I heard about it before since it was held every year. "So…you're saying that you entered us in this tournament?"

His smile was almost blinding. "Yup!"

"And by us, you mean me, Chopper-kun, Basil-sempai, and Law-sempai?"

"Who else?"

"Don't you think that it'd be appropriate to ask for our consent first?"

"We'll need to find four more people."

Of course, our beloved chief would only hear things he wanted to hear. Figures.

I set the paper down on the table. "Ace, do you even know the rules to baseball?"

"Eh, more or less," he said, shrugging. "It just involves pitching, base running, sliding, and stuff. I joined the baseball team for a bit, so I know the basics."

"A bit? How long did you join them for?"

"Just under an hour. It was dead boring, so I left."

I frowned. "If baseball was so boring, then why join a baseball tournament?"

He scoffed. "This is a great chance to leave our mark on the world, stupid! If the SOS Brigade wins this tournament, we could become famous overnight! It's the perfect opportunity!"

Yeah, the idea was certainly overwhelming. In fact, it made me want to crawl in bed and die if the name of this club were to ever spread throughout the community. But would anything really happen if the SOS Brigade were to become famous overnight? How will that change anything? And what did he mean by perfect opportunity?

Chopper blinked owlishly at the idea. "Um…"

Like a cat prowling an unsuspecting mouse, Ace pounced on Chopper, slinging an arm around his thin shoulders. "Listen up, Chopper! In this brigade, the orders of the chief are absolute. Insubordination is a serious offense, punishable by hanging! All opinions will be handled during the meetings!"

In reality, he'll just ignore your opinions and carry out his own.

While Chopper struggled against Ace's tight grip, Ace continued talking. "Doesn't baseball sound pretty fun? Just so you know, our goal is to win this thing! Not a single defeat will be accepted! Not one! Because. I. Hate. Losing."

"Eeek!" Chopper squealed when Ace brought his knuckle down for a noogie.

"Any objections?" Ace piped, looking up. As if he'll listen to us, anyway.

"I don't see why not," Law said.

"Excellent! Then I'll go acquire equipment from the baseball team!" Ace bolted out the clubroom with the force of a small tornado. Chopper, finally free of his binds, fell to the floor, sighing out of relief.

"Ah, great," I exhaled, leaning back in my seat. "Here it comes again—Ace dragging us to do his bidding."

"Look at it this way: at least he's not making us hunt for aliens and the like, right?" Law said, smiling.

"I guess," I said. "You do have a point."

Law seriously did have a point. Ever since the SOS Brigade became an official club, Ace had been simply raring to go about searching for anything paranormal. It was endless disaster! I was sure that Chopper would die from another of Ace's alien suit schemes. And me? It was dead awkward for me to change into my suit in cluster of boys; heck, I even screamed at the top of my lungs just to get them to turn around!

Anyway, at any rate, even if there wasn't a baseball tournament, anything that could attract attention would do for Ace. No, in fact, Ace himself was the attention. He's always going around, displaying his antics openly. I'd bet a million dollars that the whole school even knew who that loony freshman was, and that was Portgas D. Ace.

But it's not as though there would be much acknowledgement about this club. It doesn't even seem to be a real club, for that matter. And another thing, the name's incredibly lame. So what if we got an eccentric guy who can do just about anything? And so what if we have a really cute boy, the infamous reclusive bookworm, and the utterly mysterious (weird) transfer student? The SOS Brigade will never go that far.

And let's face it; Ace wasn't really doing this for acknowledgement.

He was just bored.

"Even though we aren't hunting for aliens, I've got a feeling that this is going to be troublesome," I groaned, burying my head in my arms.

"Way to stick with optimism, underclassmen."

"Shut up, Law-sempai. I don't want to hear that from someone like you."

The door opened again, and standing there was Ace empty-handed.

"What happened to the equipment?" I asked.

Ace chuckled awkwardly. "Well, let's not talk about that now… The match is coming up, so we better practice!"

Don't we need equipment to practice?

"And when is the match?"

"This Sunday."

My eyebrows shot up. "Ace, that's the day after tomorrow! Are you crazy? Isn't that way too soon?"

"Eh, I already registered," he said, waving dismissively. "But don't worry! I already thought of our team name—'The SOS Brigade'! Original, huh?"

This idiot… "Then…where are you going to find other team members?"

"We'll just grab anyone who looks like they have free time."

And no doubt that anyone Ace chooses will be out of this world, huh?

"I can ask my friends, Nojiko and Kuina," I offered. I felt kind of uncomfortable by the idea that it was either playing on a team full of strange people or a team full of boys. After that little experience I had a couple days ago, I can't say that I've recovered from my edge, to be brutally honest. I really needed my female friends with me, especially now that I'm being dragged to some baseball game.

"Those guys will do," Ace said. "Better than none."

Now we need are two more players…

"Um, I can bring a friend of mine from class," Chopper said, raising a hand. "He's rather efficient when it comes to—"

"Bring him," Ace responded immediately.

"In that case, should I bring a friend too?" Law spoke. "I know someone who might be—"

I didn't know Law all too well, but I had a feeling that it might be someone from the agency or the observatory, and that was the last thing I wanted to happen. Sure, it couldn't be helped that two aliens and a time-traveler were participating in the game, but at least I could do was try to make the ratio normal to weird.

"No, no, I got it," I cut in quickly. "I have someone in mind, actually."

Ace grinned. "Awesome! We've got our nine players then, so let's start our training!"

"Ace, we don't even have equipment," I pointed out in exasperation. "Just how do you expect us to play when we've got nothing?"

"Jeez, don't worry so much, Kyonko! I've got a plan."

"And that would be…?"

Instead of answering, he pointed out the window, and that was when I felt a wave of fatigue overcome me.

XOXOXO

Ace had his eye on what was going on below the window, so he had us drag our feet to the track field, now facing the softball team, who looked stunned by our unexpected arrival, especially when one of us was dressed as a butler. Yes, it's Chopper.

Not to mention one boy who strutted up to them and started yelling out, "And that's the story! Let us use your equipment and field, now!"

"Um…" One of the softball players, the captain, raised her hand. "You didn't tell us any 'story'. You just walked over here and said that…"

"Exactly!" exclaimed Ace, who had a voice so loud that it could rouse the dead. "Therefore, I propose a trade!" He grabbed Chopper and shoved him in front of the team. "One high-quality butler for your softball equipment, please! Sure, he still needs a bit of house-training, but soon he'll be accustomed to all your needs, _whatever_ they may be!"

The team just stared at us in sheer disbelief. As I bore their pitiful gazes, I recognized one as a former classmate of mine. Fantastic…my reputation had flipped on its backside and died over…

I walked up to Ace and touched his arm.

"Hmm? What is it? Can't you see I'm trying to conduct a business transaction here?"

I averted my gaze. "Just… Just stop, alright? I'll handle this."

"Well… I guess if you think you have something better to offer," he muttered, sounding a bit nonplussed, "then go ahead."

I stifled to urge to sigh in relief as I walked up to my old classmate and asked her, "Can I talk to you alone about this?"

And, so, we huddled up behind the storage shed.

"What's up, Kyonko-chan?" she asked.

Ugh. She, for one, didn't happen to forget my nickname.

"I mean, I knew you were a bit weird, but never did I think I'd see you hanging around Portgas D. Ace…"

"Look," I said, rubbing my temple, "please let us use your equipment and field! Ace signed us for a tournament the day after tomorrow and we're totally unprepared… That idiot won't even listen to me, and there's nothing we can do to stop him! So please, please, _please_, please, _please_ let us practice!"

Who knows what Ace will come up with if he doesn't get what he wanted…

My old classmate looked thoughtful. "I don't know… It's not that big of a deal, but we do have a game next week, so we have to get ready, and I don't even know if the captain would listen to me."

And then I unleashed my secret weapon.

"If you let us practice, I can promise you that Ace will never come close to the softball team ever again."

Two minutes later, we came out from the shed. Ace ran up to me, giving me an expectant look.

"Got us what you wanted," I said.

"Wow! That was fast! Wonder what kind of methods you had to use…"

I kicked him in the shin.

And, so, our rigorous training for the baseball tournament we never wanted to enter began. The softball team left the field, but while doing so they shot us last strange looks that I don't know if I'll ever recover from. Ace was making a fool of himself as always, Chopper threw nervous looks around himself, Law was experimenting the use of wearing a glove, and Basil…just stood there.

I wonder if Basil was just a robot created by the aliens.

"Let's start with a thousand hits!" Ace exclaimed, waving around the bat. He then proceeded to toss up a pile of softballs and smack each one at the rest of the SOS Brigade, who had been forced to stand in line at the pitcher mound like a quadruple of prisoners executed by the firing squad.

"Gaaah!" Chopper cried out when a ball whizzed by past him, and he dropped to the ground on his buckling knees, covering his head with his glove. I could perfectly understand why Chopper was struck by fear; each of those balls seemed to contain a homicidal intent along with killer speed. It would be like a matter of a life-or-death to try to catch those balls.

No matter what, Ace just _had_ to go all out, doesn't he?

"I actually fear for my life," Law deadpanned when he easily evaded one ball that was aimed for his face.

Basil was standing very, very still, like the last time I saw him. He ignored the balls that flew in his direction, not even moving when the balls would graze past his ear by a few centimeters. Occasionally, he would slowly move his gloved hand, like a remote-controlled robot, and catch the balls aimed directly at him, then slowly put his hand down again.

I figured that I should stop placing my attention on those around me when a ball skipped past my glove and under my legs. Oh, forget it! One ball just hit Chopper on the knee!

"Ow!" Chopper whimpered. "That hurts…!"

Maternal senses or whatever, I sprung on my heels and rushed to his side while calling out to Basil and Law, "I'm counting on you two!" I helped Chopper on his feet and brought him out of the line.

Ace's complaints sailed across the field. "Oi! Where are you guys going? Kyonko! Chopper! Get back here!"

"He needs help!" I shouted.

"The hell? Those are _soft_balls! How do you expect him to turn into a manly man if you're always babying him?"

He does have a point, but Chopper does seem to be in real pain. I raised my hand in farewell and ignored the rest of Ace's protests.

"Hey, I'm not done yet! Bring him back here! It's all part of the secret formula to winning! Ten percent is luck, twenty percent is skill, fifteen percent is concentrated power of will, five percent is fun, and fifty percent is pain! Do you hear me? FIFTY PERCENT IS PAIN!"

Walking inside the school building to the nurse's office, I helped him along the way. He seemed to finally notice that he had been leaning on me the whole time because his eyes went wide as he gasped, "N-no! Kyonko-san, you can't stay so close to me! Otherwise, it—it'll happen again!"

Did he mean the time where Ace tried to make a new world. Why, yes he did.

"Chopper-kun, don't worry about that," I assured. "You should go home now; I'll tell Ace that the injury on your knee will take a couple days to heal."

He ducked his head. "I don't think he would believe that…"

"Well, maybe. But there's no way he can protest to you going home."

His eyes raised and he nodded shyly. "Th-thank you, Kyonko-san."

…

He's so cute!

XOXOXO

When I returned, batting practice was still in progress. What was surprising was that it had appeared that Ace had called the softball team back, who were all out in the field. Law and Basil were out on the side, watching how things were going.

"What's Ace up to now?" I asked.

"As you can see, Portgas-ya was feeling rather restless with our performance. He's been like that since you left," Law explained, gesturing before us.

Ace smacked the ball the pitcher had thrown, making it glide in the air far. The other players scrambled to get the ball before he hollered at the pitcher for another throw. Standing there for a bit, I was pretty much awestruck at how easily he could maneuver his hits to whichever direction he wanted. For someone who played baseball under an hour, he was quite competent.

"He's really amazing. He actually managed to get a thousand hits."

"What's really amazing is that you actually bothered to count," I said dryly.

"When you're bored, you do amazing things," he drawled absently.

"…Can't say that I can argue with that." I looked up at Basil, who was staring at the practice with an impassive expression. "Hey, Basil-sempai, since you were able to get people to believe that Kuro had a job transfer, do you think you can postpone the game or send in a huge storm on Sunday? You know, to force the game to cancel?"

"It is not impossible," Basil answered plainly, "but it is not recommended."

"Why's that?"

"Partial data alteration of the environment would result in derivatives in the planet's ecosystem."

"What? For how long?"

"A few centuries to ten thousand years."

I sighed. "Then it's better not to do it, right?"

"Indeed."

"Too bad, eh?"

"Too bad."

I turned back to Law and asked, "Can you distort the data of the environment too?"

He shook his head. "Only observers have the capabilities to do that."

"Oh. Too bad, eh?"

He sent me a smirk. "Not quite."


	12. So

**AN:** Kyonko's developing an odd relationship with Law.

**ALSO: **Next chapter will be starring the canon world with Kyonko visiting. It'll be a fun read.

XOXOXO

So… Two days later. Sunday. 8:00 AM sharp.

"Be there or suffer a death penalty!" were the words of motivation Ace had for us.

We were gathered at the Municipal Sports Center where there were two baseball fields adjacent to the community track field. The tournament would be a series of six-inning games, and would take two weeks to complete. The semi-finalists were to be decided by tonight, with the semi-finals and final being played next Sunday.

Since the SOS Brigade team didn't own any standard baseball uniforms, we were standing out in our school track suits. And, I know that this would be digressing a bit, but this was the first time I've seen Basil wear something other than his school uniform.

Anyway, a six-inning game meant that there would be five switches between offense and defense, rather, than say, a nine-inning game where there would be nine switches. I guess I should be grateful that we were playing three-innings short than how playoffs usually go.

Earlier, I had given my friends a call to come play. They both agreed, eager to see the members of the SOS Brigade up close, that and Kuina's competitive spirit would never say no to an athletic event. I would have cried tears of joy if it wasn't for my self-restraint.

The person Chopper had brought was a guy who managed to dwarf him—this guy was even taller than Ace and Law. Chopper introduced him as Bepo, a friend of his in his class. At the mention of Bepo's name, I noticed that Law's eyebrow rose ever so slightly before lowering back. I take it that he was surprised by something…

When introductions were over, Bepo shot me a cheerful grin and walked over to me, clapping a large hand on my shoulder. "So, you must be Kyonko-chan, eh? Chopper's always been talking about you!"

"Is…that so?"

"Yup!"

My head automatically turned to Chopper, as if I needed further confirmation about this. Chopper just flushed and looked away. I don't know what he told his friend about me…but he's so cute!

Later, Ace confronted me about our last player. I presented him of my final choice.

He stared blankly for a moment, and then said, "Kyonko, come with me. We need to talk."

We huddled behind the bleachers, and that was when Ace blurted in my face, "What exactly are you on? Look at that thing! You're actually going to let him play?"

"What do you mean?" I said. "I don't think it's a problem that I brought my little brother here to play with us."

That's right. I brought Wataru.

He snorted. "He's _your_ little brother? You know what he did when we got here? He came up to me and said that he was the best in his fifth grade year when it came to sports, and he's here to 'kick ass and chew bubblegum'. He's way too cool to be related to you." _Ow_. "Wait, no, that's not my point. Look, it would have been fine if he was playing in the little league, but this baseball tournament is for big kids!"

Yeah, yeah, I get ya, Ace.

Of course, I didn't do this without thinking. I guess now would be a good time to imagine myself wearing a villainous smile while rub my hands together in a devious fashion, and the lightening crackling in the background would be a nice addition. I call this my master plan. Kinda.

You see, it would be natural for me to want to hasten this tournament so that I could go home and sleep. So, I decided, why not bring Wataru? Oh, and, by the way, Wataru's essentially the _worst_ in his grade when it comes to anything athletic.

It kind of made it more so of a rag-tag team than a group of teens looking for fun (which was what only Ace was having), but no matter. And, besides, when facing an elite team of actual players, we're going to lose quickly by default.

"Eh, forget it," Ace grunted and turned around. "We'll let them win one inning. It won't be fun if we win too much."

He's just a load of hot air, wasn't he?

"We still haven't decided on the fielding positions and batting order yet," I remarked. "What do you have in mind, chief?"

"I've already thought of that." His face glowed while wearing a smug grin—I didn't know whether it was because he had actually thought of something beforehand or that I called him chief. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it so that I could see. "I decided to use this. No one's going to disagree, yeah?"

From each side of where the crease had made its divide, there was a crisscrossed pattern with eight lines. It looked like that ladder-tracing lottery sheet one of our classmates had tried.

"Don't tell me that you're planning on using this to…"

"Of course I am! I split the lottery into two, one for batting and one for fielding positions. I'm the pitcher and the fourth batter, by the way."

I felt a headache coming up. "You're seriously going to use this?"

"What's with that face? Don't you know that this is the most democratic way? The ancient Greek leaders were chosen by ladder-tracing, just so you know."

I wanted to tell that to not compare the Greek's selection method to the use of a baseball team, and that because he decided this on whim, just how was this democratic anyway? But I figured that it'd be pointless to tell him all that. We're going to lose, so whatever.

Anyway, the team we were playing against was known as the Kamigahara Ninjas, a team from college best in defense for three years running.

And as for the official positions our teammates were assigned to? First batter, second baseman: me; second batter, center fielder: Basil; third batter, right fielder: Chopper; fourth batter, pitcher: Ace; fifth batter, left fielder: Wataru; sixth batter, catcher: Law; seventh batter, first baseman: Kuina; eighth batter, third baseman: Bepo; and ninth batter, shortstop: Nojiko.

This was the SOS Brigade team. No substitutes. No refreshments. No uniforms. No serious participant (maybe except for Ace). Yup, what a great, great baseball team we have here on our hands.

…Wait, I'm first at bat?

XOXOXO

After both teams had paid their respect to one another, Ace grinned at me and jerked his head towards the batter's box. Sadly, I had to comply, and since we had completely forgotten the existence of helmets we had to borrow second-hand dusty helmets from the Organizing Committee. If there was anything that _truly _belonged to us, it would have to be the loudspeakers in obnoxious yellow from Ace.

The opposing pitcher, a gangly-looking man, tilted his cap downwards and gave a nod to the catcher. I gritted my teeth and waited, the bat raised in my hands.

When the umpire yelled, "Play ball!", the pitcher stretched his arm back and hurled the ball straight at me. A small gasp left my lips when the ball sliced through the air, making a high-pitched whizzing noise—holy crap, it was _fast_! It moved so fast, that I didn't have time to blink as it landed in the catcher's glove.

Because I didn't swing, it was a strike.

The second pitch, the ball curved. If I had ignored it, it would have been a—what do you call it?—"ball", but my arms were ache-ready to make a swing so I took a swipe at it.

You can guess how things went from there. I was declared out after the third pitch, and as I passed by Ace when I headed back to the bench, he gave me a thumbs-up in congratulations for my failure.

"Good job out there, Kyonko! Don't sweat it! Baseball isn't a girl's sport anyway, so leave it to us men," he said, puffing out his chest. "_We'll_ show you how it's done."

I kicked him in the shin.

The second batter was Basil, who treaded silently to the batter's box, dragging the tip of the aluminum bat on the ground. Back on the bench, Wataru slid close to me, asking me in an overly curious tone, "Hey, hey, Kyonko! Isn't that guy up there the one who walked you home once? Isn't he your boyfmmph!"

I slapped my hand over his mouth and looked over to Ace, who was watching Basil while wearing an eager smirk.

Back at home-base, as balls were being pitched his way, Basil didn't even bother to swing, just stood there. He returned to the bench and handed his helmet and the bat to the next batter, Chopper.

Ace, who recovered from his dumbfounded state, looked at Basil angrily while exclaiming, "Hawkins! Oi! What the hell was that? You call that batting? You're supposed to hit the ball!"

"…"

"Look, just… Never mind! Chopper!" Ace stomped over to Chopper and threw an arm around his shoulders. "Listen up! You're the last batter for this one, so you're our only hope. The only person we can rely on," he articulated with seriousness.

Chopper trembled.

"You understand? This is something that _only you can do_."

And, so, our third batter, who was wearing a helmet that barely fit on his small head, walked reluctantly to the box. "M-may the best win—GYAAH!"

Before he could finish, a high-angled straight ball came shooting at his way...and right into his gut. Chopper immediately doubled over in pain. The pitcher hurried over and began to apologize profusely. For a second, I thought that Ace would grow livid that someone had hurt one of his brigade members, but instead…

"Suck it up, Chopper!"

He didn't care at all.

The umpire ruled it a foul, but after he stood up, Chopper just stood as stiff and still as a Buddha statue, and only trembled slightly when all three pitches flew past him. When he was called out, he breathed a sigh and returned to the bench.

"I'm disappointed in you, Chopper. You were our only hope," Ace lectured, scowling.

It ended with three consecutive strike outs, and both sides had to switch fields.

What happened to your perfect winning now, Ace?

XOXOXO

"C'mon, asswipes! Bring it on!" Ace went to the pitcher's mound and delivered a challenging grin to the upcoming batter. Law, donning shin guards and a chest protector, was squatting behind the batter, looking rather bored. Jeez, he and Basil lack so much enthusiasm.

Ace wound up his arm in an exaggerated fashion, slung his arm, and made his first pitch.

A strike!

It was a really good pitch. Perhaps it was the angle, speed, or control of the ball, I just don't know. Either way, the ball landed perfectly in the center of the strike zone, and the batter didn't even get a chance to swing his bat.

Of course, the SOS Brigade members, myself included, weren't surprised by this at all. If Ace were to be suddenly recruited by the National Soccer Team, we wouldn't be one bit fazed. Nothing was impossible for Portgas D. Ace when it comes to athletics.

It wasn't easy for the opponent's first batter. He couldn't swing his bat for two consecutive strikes, and only managed to react for the third pitch, but still struck out. The third pitch seemed like one of those change-up balls that curved slightly when entering the strike zone.

The second batter attempted to bunt, yet hit the ball outside the foul line twice and missed the third pitch, so he, too, struck out.

"Alright!" Ace punched the air happily. "Let's get this going _on_!"

Now, the third batter put an end to Ace's joy. He managed to smack the ball, sending it flying overhead. Basil could have stretched his arm and caught it, but he had slow reaction timing. Ace glared at the batter as he ran over three bases to home-base.

Since the Ninjas had yet to face their third out, their fourth batter came up to the box. Because of Ace's fury, he made it so that the fourth batter didn't get a chance to hit the ball like how the third batter did. Thus, he was out.

Anyway, as a result, we were now one run away behind.

Frankly, our defense had more holes than you would find anthills in a tropical savanna. The outfield defense was especially ridiculous. As I learned throughout the game, neither our right fielder, fragile Chopper, nor left fielder, my lying brother, could catch a single ball. When the ball sailed to the right side of the field, it had to be retrieved by me, the second baseman; when it went to the left field, Nojiko, the shortstop, would have to sprint every time to fetch it.

Probably a trauma that would momentarily etch in his mind, I don't know, but whenever Chopper would see the ball flying towards him, he would collapse and curl up on the ground, muttering something about "high hopes", so we can't expect him to do any actual defending.

As for Wataru, he'd certainly chase after the ball energetically, but the ball would always land three feet away from where he was standing, so he wasn't much of help either.

Credit should be given to Basil, the center fielder, for catching balls flawlessly, but he only reacted to the ones that flew within his immediate range, and his reaction time, as I mentioned before, was dead slow. If a line drive rocketed straight past him, our opponents might as well score a run already.

Gosh, our team sucks.

The fact that the Ninjas had scored only a first few runnings was because their swings were late. I guess they were feeling lethargic when it comes to Sundays. However, when it came to our turn at batting, we've gained only one running from a homerun by—and you guessed it—Ace.

At this point, the only one who's basically playing for our side was him.

Wataru was terribly clumsy when holding the bat and nearly hit the umpire when he swung and released the bat. Law, on the other hand, was somewhat close, but in the end he couldn't even hit the ball. I had a strange urge to laugh at him when he came back to the bench, like how Wataru would tease me about my grades and my lack of dating history.

"This isn't as simple as I thought it would be," Law sighed.

I offered a half-smile. "I take it you didn't play baseball where you come from, eh?"

"Any sports that you know, actually. Well, aside from a bit of swordsmanship, but that was it."

Swordsmanship, huh? I wonder how Kuina would react to that if she heard him say that.

It seemed that Ace was beginning to lose his touch with pitching. The Ninjas made five runnings, and this brought back Ace's scowl. If he kept that up, that scowl will soon be perpetual.

Nothing could back down Kuina's competitive spirit, so when it was her turn to hit the ball, she had made it to first base. This had sent a roar of cheer from our team, nearly causing my ears to bleed. Bepo was up next, and he hit the ball so hard that it was another homerun. Nojiko, like Law, was so close, yet no success.

"I didn't know your friends were athletic," Law commented as we moved to the field.

"I didn't know that they would take this game so seriously," I muttered.

It went on like before. Some of us couldn't catch and some of us couldn't throw. Man, this was getting ridiculous, for Ace, I mean. As for me, like how I emphasized it before, I just wanted to go home.

Passing by him, I noticed how petulant he appeared. "Things aren't looking so good," he grumbled, glaring at the scoreboard.

"No need to make yourself frustrated," I said. "It's just a game, you know?"

"Who said that I was talking to you?" he snapped.

Sheesh, someone's getting a bit moody.

Before I retrieved the bat and a helmet, Law looked at me and said, "Things aren't looking so good."

"That's what Ace said," I groaned. "Whatever. What is it?"

"Closed Space is starting to form, spreading at an alarming rate. It'll continue growing, and Celestials will keep tearing things apart until Portgas-ya's mood improves."

"Is this happening because we're losing?"

"What else would it be?"

My shoulders slumped. "Oh man, you've got to be kidding me."

"You know, I've been thinking, what did you do to get out of that Closed Space you were stuck in with him?"

He wanted to know _that_?

"Because if you were to use that with him, then everything might go back to normal," he elaborated.

"Yeah, I don't think so," I said with a grimace. Just imagine me walking up to Ace and pulling him down for a kiss. Ugh. If I did that—not that I ever will—then I'll have to do it in front of _so many people_! What would Nojiko and Kuina say? Gah, what will Wataru say? He might comment about how I'm cheating on Basil or something, and that'll just cause a riot, now won't it? And I have a feeling that kissing Ace won't exactly improve his mood, just leaving him flabbergasted.

"I thought you might say that," Law sighed, although there was that enigmatic smile on his face. "Very well, let's just win this game."

"How can we win when we only got three good batters?" I pointed out, throwing a hand in the air. "And, by the way, I'm currently up at bat."

"Not a problem. We could always get help from Basil."

Basil?

I watched him push himself up and take the bat with him, then strolling to Basil who was just coming here. Law was murmuring to Basil, who took the bat from him. After a second, he then came to the benches and handed the bat to me, saying, "I changed the elemental positional destination."

"The elemental what?" I said, blinking.

"Homing mode," was the only clarification I got.

Seeing him crack open his book, I could only sigh and shrug before dragging my feet out there again. Whatever Basil had done to this bat, it must be something good, I guess. I mean, after all, they got to do whatever it takes to please Ace, right? Because then the world might be destroyed, right? Maaaan… How troublesome…

Almost makes me want to throw my head back and laugh until tears come out. The fate of the world rests on a baseball game. What a joke.

"Play ball!" the umpire called out.

I held up the bat, and by the time the pitcher raised his arms to make a throw, I made a quick glance around to see if anything out of the ordinary was coming. Suddenly, my wrists twitched and my arms made a sharp jerk downwards, bringing the bat along with that descent. I was so shocked by the fact that my arms had moved on its own—no, it wasn't my arms, it was the bat!

Anyway, I was so shocked that the _bat_ was moving on its own that I didn't even realized the loud clang it made with the ball. When that registered in my mind, I quickly took off. I was a pretty slow runner, but that didn't matter because by the time I landed on first base, the SOS Brigade team encouraged me to keep on running, and that was when I realized that I—uh, no, the _bat_ had scored a homerun.

Ace clapped a hand on my shoulder and gave me the brightest grin I had ever seen on his face, telling me, "Awesome, Kyonko! You're amazing!"

Aww! Thank you, Ace!

"Now you proved that you aren't so useless after all!"

I kicked him on the shin.

Kuina and Wataru, who knew me the best, kept commenting how the un-athletic Kyonko had done something that might change the world. I told them to shut up.

I watched carefully when Basil was up to bat, and the same thing happened to him! The same with Chopper and Ace and Law and Wataru…all the way until I was batting again. I was a bit surprised to hear that people outside the SOS Brigade club members didn't comment about how the bat was moving on its own, but rather how they were so amazed that they actually managed to make their own homeruns.

After making another homerun, I picked up the bat and winced how banged up it was. There were dents everywhere. And judging by the looks the Ninjas were giving us, I'd say that we might as well put an end to this.

"You should cancel the homing mode now," I told Basil as I passed the bat and helmet to him.

"I see," he said.

And, so, we earned ourselves three struck outs without our magical bat.

"Is it necessary for us to win?" I said offhandedly.

"Of course," Law said. "Because of the amount of homeruns we've scored, the expansion of the Closed Space ceased to grow anymore, but that will be temporarily depending on how things will go."

"But if the opposing team make a comeback, that'll be it." Though it might be pointless to think about it, knowing how unpredictable Ace was. It would be plain to see that he'll be dismayed by a loss, but would he be mature and suck it up or would he put an end to humanity? Yeah, that sounds a bit dramatic…

"I've got an idea."

The first part of Law's idea was to make Basil the catcher. I wasn't sure what was going on in his head, but Ace didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, he thought that it was a fantastic idea. Well, it wasn't like Basil would make an attempt to go after the ball.

After having Bepo and Chopper help him put on the catcher's gear, Basil pulled the mask over his face and squatted down behind the batter, glove up and ready.

The second part of his idea was…just outright crazy. Law wanted _me_ to be the pitcher.

When he told me that, I gave him a look. "You cannot be serious."

He smiled. "Oh, I'm dead serious."

"Maybe your brain is suffering a thinking retardation…"

Ridiculously enough, Ace agreed to it!

"If Law suggested you, I have no qualms about it," he said, shrugging. "You better do this right, Kyonko!"

Wasn't that placing too much faith on me?

I made it to the mound, feeling just absurd standing there. The umpire indicated for the game to continue, making me feel even more uneasy. Having the ball in my hand and being relied on to make a good pitch… Well… What can I say? May the Lady Luck find favor in me!

I did a half-hearted effort to copy Ace's wound-up arm, but when the ball was out of my hand, it went up high landed softly in Basil's glove. The umpire called out, "Foul!"

"I said that you better do this _right_, Kyonko!" I heard Ace holler at my back. "So _do_ it right, dammit!"

Tracing back to when Basil told me that the Ace I know was just a fragment of another Ace, I'm thinking that he was flat-out wrong. The Ace I know just has way too much personality to not be a person of his own. And I wonder if the other Ace was as loud and annoying as this one here.

I sighed and made another pitch, doing the same mistake of sending it soaring high and slow. But, just when it was going to make another foul, the ball was pulled down as if by an invisible string and sped into the strike zone. The batter was pretty darn stunned by this that he openly gawked at the ball in Basil's glove.

The umpire blinked owlishly before saying, "St-strike!"

No doubt that this was Basil's doing.

"Yeah! Way to go, Kyonko!" Ace cheered.

"Way to go, big sis!" Wataru rooted.

Please, hold your applause for I do not deserve it. Seriously.

All of my pitches, so far, had been absolutely lame, yet Basil altered it every time, each one being a surprise strike-out. All of them never failed to leave each batter confounded. It was when the third batter had changed the routine when he was facing his last pitch.

No, the batter didn't smack the ball and send it flying. Actually, when the ball sped up for its strike, it hit the corner of Basil's glove, and then rolled behind him. The batter, seizing this chance, bolted out of the base and went for the first.

"Pick up the ball, sempai!" I called out hurriedly. "Pick up the ball!"

Basil leisurely rose to his full height and walked over to ball, picking up the ball with no hurry or panic at all. He turned to me, and, for what seemed like a phenomenon, raised an eyebrow.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a minute to revel in the change of Basil's usual blank expressions. The batter was quickly making it to second base. I pointed at Ace and continued yelling. "Throw it! Throw it to second base!"

"Over here!" Ace shouted, jumping up and down.

Second phenomenon of the day was seen when Basil had drew back his arm and shot the ball. The ball flew like a bullet! It was faster than the Ninja pitcher and Ace's throws combined! It sliced through the air like a flash and clouted right into Ace's glove, but with velocity like that the force literally knocked the glove out of his hand!

The glove then flew right into Law's glove, and Law had been standing only a couple meters away from Ace.

Oh my goodness.

I looked down to find the batter down on the ground, failing to make a full slide since his foot hadn't touched the base. I knew that he could have made his chance of securing a base if he quickly got up and stood on it, but it seemed that he too was way too awestruck to peel his eyes away.

Law casually jogged up to the batter and said in an amicable tone, "I'm sorry, but it seems that you're out," and then tagged him.

XOXOXO

"By the looks of things, we're doing a good job," I said.

"Seems like, but, sadly, I must help my colleagues destroying a Closed Space." With that said, Law sighed. You could really tell that he equaled Closed Space to chores, like hanging the laundry or scrubbing toilets. "What a pain."

"I guess this means we forfeit. Not too bad since we won't be playing for next week, then."

"Sounds like a good idea."

And that's what we did. We forfeited.

Ace grumpily watched the field being cleared for the next teams to play, his arms folded against his chest. I stood next to him and rolled my shoulders. "Law-sempai said that he had to bail on us because something important came up. But that's alright, yeah? We had fun today."

Ace looked down at me, his lips still set in a pout, and then shrugged. "Well, if you're okay with it, I guess it's alright." He then smiled. "Hey, I'm hungry. How about we get some lunch?"

"I like that," I said, smiling back.

The Kamigahara Ninjas captain was so happy that we were forfeiting that he had tears streaming down his face. This tournament must really mean that much to him. Since I was the person who Ace sent to give regards, I had to deal with the guy's "Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Y-yeah, no problem!" I said, backing away. "Well, see you around."

"Ah, wait! That bat…"

I blinked, looking at the aluminum bat in my hands. "You mean this?" I said, lifting it.

"Yes! Um, could you…?"

Apparently, the Ninjas believed that the bat was a good luck charm after watching our performance. It didn't matter, anyway. The bat's so banged up; I think the Organizing Committee would have just thrown it away if we were to give it back. So I gave it to the captain, who cried tears of joy again.

The SOS Brigade team found a restaurant to have lunch. It was a lively group. Kuina and Nojiko were having a blast discussing with Chopper and Wataru while Bepo exclaimed the number of runs we made compared to the number of runs that the Kamigahara Ninjas had made. I didn't care to pay attention to the scoreboard or to what Bepo was saying, just relieved that it was finally over.

Ugh! What a day!

XOXOXO

The next day found me playing Go Fish with Law, who was obviously cheating again. Before I could accuse him of such, the door slammed open.

Ace held out a paper with a football and a jersey on it. "Hey, guys! I just registered us to enter an American football tournament! Hey, Kyonko, do you know how many players we need to play?"

Here we go again…

Wait a minute!

"American football? No way! How about bowling?"


	13. Please

**AN:** Kyonko's going to refer to Smoker as Smoky because she didn't really get his name.

XOXOXO

You know when you dream about something and by the time you wake up, the remembrance of that dream fades as your disoriented mind grasps more firmly on consciousness? That usually happens to me. Even when I get particularly vivid and outlandish dreams, the details slip away and I could only recall the simple things.

However, I remembered everything from that one dream where Ace had fabricated a new world and Celestials were rampaging on the remains of the school and I had to _kiss_ him in order to wake up. Well…I'm not sure whether it was a dream or not, but I hope it was; I don't want to lose my first kiss to be a frantic escape.

Anyway, why did I bring this up? Because the next morning, I found myself on my bed and in my pajamas, aware that I hadn't left my house, my neighborhood, my _world_, despite the fact that I had distinctively remembered ending up somewhere…different.

And by different, I mean a different universe.

What else could it have been? A world where pirates and marines become a common thing? Yeah, I was positive that I was not on earth, but that wasn't all. I swore that I ended up in the agency's headquarters or something because I've seen things that would have made Ace's eyes bulge from their sockets.

Oh, speaking of Ace…

Well, I suppose I should first start with how it all began.

I remembered landing painfully on something hard. Like the floor. My eyes shot open, and I found myself sprawled across floorboards, wearing nothing but the pajamas I wore to bed. I was late to notice that eyes were being pinned on me, staring at me with bewilderment. From what I got, I had apparently dropped inside the office of Commodore Smoky from air.

Just appeared out of nothing. Just like that.

After dizzily getting on my feet, the next thing I knew, guns were shoved into my ribcage. Men in white uniforms stood imposingly around me as Commodore Smoky, a big man who had two lit cigars jammed in his mouth (should a guy be smoking so much?), scrutinized me with his half-glare.

He paced a bit before demanding in a gruff voice, "Who are you and how'd you get in my office?"

I could only stare at him with wide eyes. "H-huh?"

"Could it be that you have eaten the Devil Fruit? Was that how you transported here?"

My mind whirred until recognition rang in my ears. Law mentioned the Devil Fruit before when he was demonstrating his powers, yet he never gave me an explanation as to what it was. That was when I wondered if I somehow stumbled inside the headquarters of the agency.

I nearly squeaked like a mouse when Smoky strode forward and towered over me. "I asked you a question," he growled.

"I-I d-didn't eat any fruit," I replied nervously, recoiling.

"Then how did you get in here?"

"I-I don't know!"

"You mean to tell me that you have absolutely no idea how you suddenly appeared out of thin air and fell in my office?"

"Um, yeah…?"

I was super confused and super scared. Why? Well, when a daunting man seizes you up like that—probing you with questions that promised that if you didn't answer, then you'll just have to answer to his huge fists—you'd share my sentiments exactly. The guns jabbing me in the guts were an addition to my state being terrified.

What else? Oh yeah. Where the heck was I?

A gust of relief escaped my lungs when Smoky called off the guns. The soldiers lowered their weapons, leaving me easier to breathe, yet remained rooted to their spots. I noticed that there were about seven men who had me backpedaling against the wall, and that I was just inches away from stubbing my toe on the sharp corner of a desk. Because one soldier was in the way, all I could read from the nametag that sat on the desk was "Commodore Smo".

Since the smoking man kept saying this like "my office", I assumed that he was this Commodore. Due to the heavy amounts of smoke he had suspending in the air, I thought I might as well dub him as Smoky to fill out the rest of "Smo". I considered Smolder, but that sounded odd in my mind.

Mister Smoky proved to be the most intimidating person I had ever encountered. In fact, his half-hearted glare could put Ace's chilling ones to shame. I wonder if the man's frown was perpetual, seeing how it didn't even once shift to a different expression.

He probably didn't get hugged often as a child.

Okay, that was definitely an awful thought, but I was half-heartedly trying to distract myself here. This was infinitely worse than facing Ace's killer baseballs.

"If you didn't eat a Devil Fruit, then how'd you get in here?"

"I just told you, I don't know!" I insisted.

He grumbled something incoherent under his breath while running a gloved hand through his cropped hair. He eyed me for a moment, and I tried not to squirm uncomfortably under his stare. He then launched another question, inquiring, "What's your name?"

"My name?" I blinked, and then my mouth ran off on its own, forgetting that I shouldn't give my name away easily to strangers, especially to this guy (but it's not like I'd prefer to answering to his fists). "Oh. Um. It's—"

Luckily for me, a lady with short hair and glasses perched on her head came stumbling inside the room, exclaiming, "Sir! There's an attack on the east side of the ship! Outnumbering us, sir!" Then her eyes landed on me, staying there as her face immediately transformed from grimacing urgency to mere curiosity.

"Damn it," Smoky hissed around a mouthful of cigars. "Tashigi, call all men on the deck to get ready for a fight. And _you_," his abrupt attention back to me caused me to flinch, "stay right here. Do not go anywhere. I'm not done with you yet."

That tone was definitely demanding for a "yes, sir", so I gratified him by saying that. He nodded curtly before spinning on his heels and proceeding out of the room, and marching after him was the rest of the soldiers.

With the room now pressingly silent, I released another exhale that had been causing my lungs to ache—I didn't really know, but I could have been holding my breath. Where's Law when you need him? I had a feeling that he would know what's going on. No, better than that, Basil would be sure to know what's going on. After all, Basil's the more edifying kind of guy.

I slid against the wall and plopped down, then took the moment to register what was going on. I was somehow not in my house and landed here. By the looks of it, the organization that Basil and Law were in had either established a base in my world or that I had transferred to theirs. I realized how ridiculous the thought was. Me? In their world? What were the chances of that?

It was that four minutes later proved to me that I was wrong.

The floorboards were suddenly slanting, a shriek ripping through my throat when I tumbled painfully to where gravity had led me. I let out a groan when my head thumped against the opposite wall. Then the floorboards went back to flat, and I found myself all battered in the center of the office.

Afterwards, sounds of crashing and blasting and slashing resonated from the outside. I noticed that there was a small circular window high above the desk. Thinking about this a moment, I rubbed my head and brought a chair up against the wall. I stepped up on it and rested my chin on the sill.

And through that small window, I watched with incredulity as Smoky's torso became thick gray smog before a grisly man drove his sword through it.

Holy shitake mushrooms.

Though there were a series of violent activity happening all around, my eyes were glued on Smoky. I felt my mouth dropping when Smoky's lower half turned into nothing but smoke and when he _flew_ above heads. I then observed that the soldiers were battling against…pirates.

Seriously, they _had_ to be pirates. Heck, they even looked like pirates! One had an eye-patch and a hook and the other had a peg-leg! And there were swords, guns, machetes, and…

It was as though I was just watching television up close when I pressed my face to the cool glass, that this was nothing but an action movie with a lot of animation included to highlight the effects, except the animation happened to be…very, very realistic. And…that wasn't really blood splattered on the floor and internal organs weren't flopping out of an open belly…

Yeah, I gotta stop watching this.

I sank onto the seat, a wave of nausea hitting me. Just right outside of these walls, men were fighting. And Smoky had some strange power… Was he part of the agency? But the way Law and he mentioned about the Devil Fruit… It kind of sounded like anyone could have eaten the Devil Fruit! Or was that my imagination? Was I suffering a mild mental delusion?

Maybe this was a prank played out by Law. Maybe these were people who he hired to act.

No. No. He wasn't that kind of person. At least, he wouldn't be so cruel as to do this to me.

I wiped my clammy hands on my sweats before standing on the floor. I jumped when the door had opened, revealing two pirates at the doorway. Before I knew it, I was being dragged outside, both having a good grip on my arms, and it was pretty gross seeing how dirt-encrusted their fingers were.

The exterior of the ship was smaller than I had expected, but that was probably because soldiers and pirates flooded the place. I felt eyes boring at the back of my head as I was ruthlessly thrown down. My attempts of trying to get up came later, but I couldn't manage that when someone's large hand clamped onto my head and fingers pulling harshly into the roots of my hair. I struggled, but no avail.

"Looks like you're out of luck, marine," patronized the man behind me. "I have a hostage right here!"

Smoky, who was circling in the air, came down, his legs reappearing, but the smoke just poured out of his body heavily. "Let the girl go," he commanded, his voice strong.

"Give me the document."

"I _said_ let the girl go."

"And _I_ said," the man tightened his grip, eliciting a yelp from me, and drew something _shiny_ under my chin, "give me the document."

It was a sword. It was a bloody sword. I could see my reflection in it, and I could see that I was wide-eyed in terror. An unwelcoming feeling of trepidation bloated in my chest, the same feeling when Kuro tried to kill me. My heart was pounding fast and beads of sweat were beginning to form on my forehead.

Jeez! What's with people trying to kill me?

I was, however, not as hysteric now as I was before. I had a feeling that my chances for survival wasn't low, even if it was unknown whether Basil would come crashing in just like before. Looking at Smoky, he wore conflict in his eyes plainly, as if trying to come up with a plan. In the end, he just sighed and turned to the nearest soldier, ordering, "Get the document."

The soldier appeared reluctant. "But, sir—"

"Don't make me repeat what I just said."

"Y-yes sir."

The soldier later returned with a scroll in his hands. He placed it in Smoky's hand. Smoky stretched his arm out and said, "I want you to let the girl go first before I hand you the document."

Even though I couldn't see him, I could literally hear a sneer on his ugly face, or so I imagined his face to be ugly. "Just what kind of fool do you take me as for, Smo—"

A wave engulfed the ship.

I don't know how. I don't know why. And the weight of irony in this situation? So freakin' heavy that I can't even breathe. The fact was that this massive wave, big enough for a Celestial to even surf on it, just shot up from the waters and came crashing down. It was, to say in simple, simple words, unbelievable.

I guess, whether it was Mother Nature or some powerful being from above, Smoky might find gratitude in this. He didn't have to hand over this oh-so important document, and my head was still very much attached to my body. But one thing that I could do without was by almost drowning in deep sea.

The wave was so large and came down with a thundering crash that it wrecked the ship, causing debris to fly everywhere. From my vague recollection, the ship was still okay, but the smaller ship next to it, the pirate's ship, I'm sure, was totaled. Actually, I think the plank that I found myself latched onto after resurfacing belonged to their ship.

The wood was the first solid thing that I've touched since the wave's impromptu entrance, and I threw my arms around it like the lifesaver it was. I hacked out until I painted the waters beside me in a lovely combo of regurgitated dinner and inhaled seawater, and my eyes swelled from the salt. I kept sniffling until I gained back my senses and figured out where I was.

Looking over my shoulder, the ship that belonged to Smoky had burned ablaze.

…

How did that happen!

XOXOXO

It must have been hours that I've been drifting away. I grew tired paddling in an endless sea. My lower body was cold and somewhat numb, and I was terribly thirsty. It didn't help that the sun was beating down on my back.

So, here I was, basically miserable while having no freakin' clue as to where I was. Well, I know now that I was in the middle of some ocean, but I was a bit more concerned whether I was in my planet or another type of Closed Space. Ugh. This _better_ not be a Closed Space.

As I was feeling sorry for myself, my attention was grabbed by a low purring that became louder as seconds passed by. First thing I heard all day other than the squawking seagulls that flew overhead. There, in the horizon, was a person skiing on the waters, a frothy splash propelling from behind of a small raft.

I was in a daze, my state about to be knocked out by exhaustion. However, I grew aware that the purring had died and the person had slowly pulled up his raft next to me. His shadow stretched over me like a thin shield against the unmerciful sun.

"Oi, are you alright?" the person said. He had a deep voice, though not too deep like Smoky's… He was young, but definitely a man.

"No, I think I'm dying," I replied drunkenly, then snorted. I sounded like I was gargling marbles to my ears.

"Heatstroke," I heard the man sigh. "That's not good."

I forced my chin up to see his face, but my eyelids were growing terribly heavy. I groaned and allowed my eyes to shut, and plopped back down wearily on the plank. Though my senses had dulled, I could feel hands lifting me up from the waters by my armpits. I felt like I weighed a hundred kilograms with the water dragging at my clothes, but it didn't seem to hinder the man at all.

Suddenly, I felt cold. My lower body had been stuck underwater for a while, so I couldn't quite feel my legs. I fell limply against something warm, hands grabbing at my body, trying to shift me. I heard him mutter something, like, "What's a girl doing out here?" I really wish I could answer him, but I didn't even have an answer for myself.

I eventually conked out.

XOXOXO

I didn't open my eyes when I woke up. Rather, I focused on the raggedy feel of the inside of my throat. When I tried to swallow, I nearly coughed, realizing how dry my mouth was. Great, I had to wake up to a sore throat and a moisture-deprived mouth.

Then I noticed that familiar low purring. It filled my ears, and I decided that it was strangely soothing to listen to. The humming of the raft brought forth vibrations underneath my body, which I enjoyed feeling. I also liked how the wind gently brushed against my cheeks and tousle my hair.

The warmth that was pressed against my back shifted, and that was when I forced my eyes to open. Before me was a narrow, pointed yellow nose of the raft that gracefully cut through the waters, giving me the image of when my mom running a pair of scissors through wrapping paper for Christmas. I stared at it for a bit before pushing myself to a more comfortable sitting position.

Whatever was pressed behind me happened to be the back of the young man. I didn't need to look to know. I felt his eyes look over his shoulder and onto me as he said, "Oh, you're awake?"

I nodded. "W-water," I croaked.

"Here ya go." A hand discarded a canteen on my lap. "Drink it all if you have to."

I uttered a quiet gratitude and popped the lid open. Cold, refreshing water poured into my mouth, and I greedily guzzled it down. The raggedly feel was still there, but it didn't hurt as much now that I drank it soothed. Exhaling, I capped the canteen and cradled it between my thighs.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "Kind of gave me a scare finding you drifting in the middle of nowhere."

"A bit weak," I answered truthfully. My voice sounded hoarse, so I cleared my throat. "How long was I out?"

"About six hours. The heatstroke gotten you good and worn, I'll tell you that."

It did seem late. The sky was now in hues of red-orange as the sun was half-way dipped into the ocean. Even the waters were colored in a deep rusty tone from the dying rays of the sun. I thought how any photographer would love capturing this moment as I took another swig from the canteen. Just place me on a beautiful island and we can call it a romantic evening.

My head was running rather slow. I know I should become alerted and paranoid after what I've experienced today, but, hey, I've been hit by heatstroke and now I'm all worn out. I couldn't help it that I was thinking about the scenery—it was quite a captivating sight. I wonder if all sunsets looked like this.

My reverie was disturbed when the man came up with another question. "So, how'd you get yourself lost in sea like that? I couldn't imagine that you were thrown overboard…"

"I…" Well, how do I explain my situation to a complete stranger? I could start off with lies, but it wasn't as if I was convincing. The truth didn't exactly sound convincing either. Therefore, to avoid this complicated matter, I said, "It's a long story."

"I'm sure it is." He didn't sound sardonic, but he didn't sound serious either. He gave a gentle shove on my shoulder, inquiring, "Where do you live? I can drop you off there."

"I don't live here," I muttered, fingering the sleeve of my top. Now that it dried, the fabric was stiff, probably from all that seawater it was saturated in. Jeez, I need a new pair of panties too.

"What was that?"

"I said that I don't really remember where I live." I end up lying anyway. Go figure.

"Eh? You have amnesia then?"

Amnesia? Well, I guess that can work with me. "I guess I do."

"Is that why you said it was a long story? Because you don't remember how you got yourself lost in sea?"

Boy, it was a good thing that he had his back against mine, otherwise he could tell that I was flat-out lying. "Yeah…"

He sighed. "This makes my job a bit harder, you know? I'm supposed to be on a mission, you see, so I can't really help you out," he lamented dryly. "Would it be alright if I drop you off somewhere? Can you fend for yourself?"

"Letting an amnesiac girl alone doesn't sound like a good idea," I deadpanned.

He let out a lax chuckle. "Yeah, I guess so. So then that means I'll just have to drag you around, eh?"

"I guess so." The prospect of me being abandoned and alone right after finding someone helping me… Well, I don't know who this guy was, but he was kind enough to drag me to his raft, basically saving my life. As of right now, I feel a lot safer being with him than random pirates or Commodore Smoky. At least I could be with this stranger just for a little while.

"Well, I hope that you can keep up because I can't waste time trying to save your ass every time."

Eloquently put.

I looped a finger around a strand of hair, wishing that I had a brush with me. "I don't think that you can cart me everywhere with you," I offered. "If you have this mission, which I'm assuming is a big deal, then I don't want to be a burden. Send me to a nice city and I'll try to sort things out myself. I'll just go to the local police station and ask for help from there."

"City? Police station?" There was a touch of confusion in his voice. "What are you talking about?"

That was when I realized that I was certainly not in the earth that I know of. Considering that there were marines and pirates that should be from a stereotypical adventure anime, or the fact that a man was out riding on this weird vehicle, I think it would be best if I tried this again.

"I mean…a village. Villages exist, right?"

"A village?" A snort. "Of course villages exist! Jeez, you really do have amnesia, don't you?"

Yeah, yeah, sure.

"Anyway, do you remember your name? I can't go around calling you 'hey, you' all the time, right?"

Should I give him my name? I did hesitate giving Smoky mine, but the guy didn't really come across me as so bad. He did make an attempt to save my life. However, I don't think it would be wise to throw out my actual name. I decided to settle with my nickname.

"I remember someone calling me Kyonko," I said.

"Kyonko? Cute name."

It's a horrendous name. What are you talking about?

"I'm Portgas D. Ace, but you can call me Ace."

…

…

…

Hold up.

Rewind.

What the heck?

I twisted my neck so fast that I nearly gave myself a whiplash. The first thing I saw was a pair of hands _burning on fire_. I had a mental panic—mental screaming, mental crying, mental shrieking, mental "_what the hell?_"—before I noticed that the hands were _not_ burning at all. In fact, the fire appeared to be shooting from his knuckles and into a cylindrical tank that had a steel rim—the engine, I think.

He could shoot fire from his hands, and he was using that fire to fuel the raft.

The second thing I saw was his face. His face _full of freckles_ that should only belong to the annoying chief of the SOS Brigade. The Portgas D. Ace who_ I_ knew.

Then I saw his eyes. His dark eyes that had that same light in Ace's eyes that shown whenever he had a plan or when he was in a good mood. Then his nose…his mouth…his chin… Then his face…

Oh. OH. OH MY GOSH.

It was Ace.

It was Ace, except…except _older looking_!

Ace's eyebrows creased when he looked at me. "Hey, Kyonko, are you alright?" he asked concernedly.

Out of shock, I toppled over and fell back into the water.


	14. Do

**AU:** Kyonko criticize canon!Ace's hat to distract herself from his abs.

XOXOXO

I must have been gapping when I fell because I sure got a nasty mouthful of seawater again. I then found myself being hauled up onto the raft, sputtering violently as a hand gave a couple gentle thwacks on my back. When I had calmed down, I looked up, meeting with Ace's slightly troubled gaze.

Ace…

Well, it wasn't really Ace…

But it was, wasn't it…?

Ugh, this was so confusing! And—and—and mega weird! Those freckles, those eyes, that face! It really was Ace, except, well, an older version of him. But never mind that—this was a substantial issue: the oh-so "original" Portgas was here. Within _my_ presence. The major lead of Basil and Law's organization's studies or whatever!

Holy crud, this was insanity.

Inferring from what Basil had told me, I came to my own conclusions that the Ace from…this world would be less stable, considering how he apparently lost a fragment of his soul. However, Law mentioned that such ideas were simply theories coming from different divisions of the organization, therefore they were simply edified deductions, not the truth.

You know what? Forget Basil and Law and the organization—this was seriously freaking me out. For one thing, I was facing difficulty registering this, even though he's _right in my face_. And, anyway, what the heck was I supposed to expect? Clearly not this doppelganger—and I know that if the Ace I knew was here, he'd undergo cardiac arrest. Kind of ironic seeing how this Ace managed to randomly find me (I think). This must be a one-in-a-life chance, I guess.

Ace rubbed soothing circles on my back, asking me, "Are you alright?"

_Holy crap. Holy crap_. It's Ace, but it's not really Ace.

I gave myself a mental slap.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," was what I intended on saying, but instead my mouth gurgled, "Ayablurgh…"

"…Um."

I cleared my throat and wiped my mouth by the back of my hand. "S-sorry," I croaked, and then cringed when my voice came out high-pitched, as if I was in pain. Oh gosh, maybe I was. Major affliction of brain-wreckage, definitely. "I, uh, w-was trying to breathe."

"Oh, alright." He gave me another pat. "Why'd you fall? Did you lose your balance?"

Lose my balance? "Yeah. I tried to see what you looked like, but I tipped over," I said.

He shot me a skeptical look, but didn't press the issue, which I was thankful of. He took a firm grip of my shoulders and steadied me, making sure that my rear wouldn't slip from the raft this time. "Looks like we've gotta stop by a village. Damn, and the sun just finished drying your clothes a minute ago."

I felt my face go hot. "Sorry," I murmured, trying to wring my clothes dry or at least as dry as it could get. It was kind of hard to, with my hands shaking like crazy.

"Doesn't matter," he sighed, smiling at me. "You'd get odd looks if you go around wearing bags, anyway."

Bags? A pair of sweats and a loose shirt would be considered as bags?

I don't get this place.

Speaking of clothes, what a tacky hat he was wearing! An orange cowboy hat with blue smilely and frowny faces? Doesn't he know that blue and orange clash? And were those red beads stringed around it? And what's with the medallion of a bull skull hanging from the lapels?

Yeah, yeah, I know. Not what I should be thinking about my savior, but I gotta look _elsewhere_ other than his _shirtless_ chest! How the heck did I _not_ notice that he was shirtless the first time?

You'd think that the guy would show some decency by putting on a shirt or something.

After fishing the canteen, Ace (oh gosh, it's starting to sound weird calling him that in my head) started the raft again, going with a slower pace. I shivered when the winds brushed against my wet skin, and I tried to keep my hair in place. I wasn't that cold, though, because being pressed up against Ace's body (_not_ gonna think too much on that), I shared his body warmth, and he was abnormally warm.

It must be because of his fire powers or something. Okay, now this was starting to get weirder and weirder. Every time I see this guy doing something, I visualize the Ace I know doing the same thing. Ace, the loudmouth who sat behind me in class, going pyro? I can see what fun (disaster) he'll have. And how about going his way of helping a stranger? He wouldn't do such a thing unless said stranger was a cross-eyed loony with a polka-dotted afro! And no, that level of bizarre wouldn't be too much.

Though I did try to picture this Ace being in the other's Ace's spot, but couldn't manage. So far, he's been rather…polite. Not too loud, not too demanding, and not too weird. Hey, he didn't even once spat out nonsense about aliens, which was something pretty hard for my head to wrap around.

"Sorry for not having any blankets or extra clothes. I had to pack light for my mission, ya know?" Ace said.

"Don't worry about it," I said. Yeah, because I might die from hypothermia anyway. No big deal. "A-anyway, what's your mission about?"

He did answer right away, as if he was reluctant to say. In the end, he spoke. "Gotta catch this man who's done something terrible," he sighed, sounding a bit grim. Then, in a lighter tone, he added, "In a way, I guess this makes me a marine, but not really." After saying that, he gave a dry snort. "If only the old man were to see me now."

Okay then. Wow, way to sound cryptic. "You're not a marine? What are you, then? A vagabond?" I asked curiously.

Ace turned his head so he could give me this raised-brow look. "You couldn't tell? Well, I suppose it would be hard to know since I'm without my crew, but I'm a pirate."

Great, another surprise of the day.

I was worn out. Physically and mentally. I find myself crash-landing in some ship and see Smoky turn into a billow of smoke, I also experienced the thrill of almost getting my throat slit and drown in a gargantuan tidal wave that probably killed off everyone on board. I encounter this version of Ace who's possibly an exhibitionist, and...I also find out that he's a pirate.

Ace. The pirate.

This whole thing was starting to sound like a big joke.

"Is that so?" I muttered.

"You don't seem very surprised."

"I'm probably undergoing shock right now. I don't really know."

He snorted again, but he sounded amused this time. "I imagine."

I bit my lip. "…You're not going to kill me, are you?"

"Now that's the question I've been waiting to hear," he snorted dryly. At that tone, I don't know whether I should be wary or relieved. "Why would I kill you when I just rescued you?"

"…Hostage?"

"And who would I use you as a hostage to?"

"Uh…"

"Haven't you heard of peace-main pirates, Kyonko? You know, pirates who're just out there for the adventure and not looting for treasure chests?" When I replied a no, I felt the rim of his hat brush against my head, so I assumed that he was shaking his head. "Morganeers are those you have to be aware of, trust me."

Was he always going to play as the enigmatic pirate who made vague sentences? Well, fine then. Two can play this game. I, after all, have amnesia.

The rest of the ride was filled with silence. Whether it was awkwardly suffocating for him or not, I didn't really care. I was used to it, in my case. Whenever my Ace arrive late to the clubroom (which would happen often), I was stuck with the rest of the members, but usually with Basil.

Spending time with Basil made me accustomed to his reticent atmosphere; he could hardly hold an actual conversation. Law wasn't the talkative type either; we'd just relapse into silence and focus playing a card or board game, but I got a feeling that he would only run his mouth about philosophies and the organization and whatnot just to irk me. And Chopper? Well, frankly, I don't recall engaging a tête-à-tête with him that didn't relate to his time-traveling matters.

Initially, the adaptation didn't sit well with me, but I guess I can find some appreciation for it; the Ace I know could never stop flapping his lips, except when he's being moody.

When he's moody, it's not a nice thing to deal with either.

Actually, now that I think about it, he's usually moody when he doesn't get his way or when I'm ignoring him. An unpleasant churn of apprehension built up in my stomach when I thought if this Ace was the same way. I took a quick peek at him from the corner of my eye, and found a small smile on his lips. Listening past the soft roar of the engine, he was humming too.

Wow. My Ace never looked like that… Maybe it's because he's older, therefore more mature. Would that mean that Ace would straighten up when he gets older?

"Here it is," he announced when land could be seen. We eventually pulled up to a dock that had other boats parked by. Ace hopped off the raft and to the dock, helping me off as well, and then produced rope to tie the mast to a silver ring that was nailed to the side of the bridge of the dock.

As Ace busied himself, I took the moment to observe the surroundings. It looked like a regular port town; the smell of caught fishes was strong. Nearby, there were aged men who carried fishing poles passing by us, giving us inquisitive glances. Just to appear friendly (and hope that we wouldn't be carted off to tribal savages, because God knows _what_ could happen), I gave them a smile and a wave, which they responded to in kind.

"I didn't take you to be the friendly type," I heard Ace say behind me. I turned around, meeting his grinning face. "No offense."

This Ace was as blunt as the other Ace. "None taken," I said, shrugging. Then I sneeze loudly. "Gah, it's so cold!" I grumbled, vigorously rubbing my arms to make friction. When a heavy yet very warm arm wrapped around my shoulders, I jumped.

"Whoa, easy there. I'm just trying to warm you up," Ace said. "C'mon, let's find a shop."

"Sorry. You caught me unaware," I murmured, trying to match with his steps. It didn't help that his legs were so long.

"Funny. I don't really find myself to be the sneaky type either."

Yeah, and you probably didn't find yourself to be so freakin' tall too.

I looked at the arm that hung on me. His skin was the same shade as his counterpart, and was swelled from the expanse of muscle on him. But, no matter how much I observed his arm, I just saw a regular arm. No special lightshow or radiance to reveal how he was able to exude so much heat. "How come you're so warm?" I wondered.

He looked down at me, an eyebrow raised in question. "How come I'm so what?"

"Warm," I repeated. "Before, you emitted lots of heat even for one person. Is it genetic?"

He fixated me an odd look before throwing back his head and barked a short laugh. I couldn't stop myself from blushing, thinking that he was laughing at me. Man, he's a jerk even in this world! "Is it genetic?" he snickered. "No, Kyonko. In fact, it's not. I just ate the Mera Mera Fruit."

"That was how you were able to conjure those flames?" I continued, relieved that he wasn't laughing at me (I think).

"Yeah." He brought his other hand and opened his palm. A tiny flame suddenly danced above his skin, his fingers erect like bars to a cage. It reminded me the way Law summoned a blue ring back in the Closed Space he took me in. "I have the power to create, control, and become fire. Pretty neat, huh?"

I felt my brows shot up behind my matted bangs. "What? You can become a living torch?"

"Yup."

Ace launched a brief description of his powers. I learned that he could create fire-based attacks and couldn't get burnt. He also possessed the ability to allow normal attacks, like a hammer or bullets, to pass by him by turning to flames. With this in mind, I asked him if thrown into a volcano would he still be alive, and he responded with an "I don't know".

"Sounds like eating a Devil Fruit has some major advantages," I said, a bit in awe. It seemed that most Devil Fruits were used for battling as I thought about Law and Paula.

"Yeah, but it also has a disadvantage too. You can't swim, for that matter."

"You can't?"

He shook his head. "Once a Devil Fruit user is in stagnant water at least knee-deep, he's immobilized."

That'd make taking a bubble bath hard then, right? I frowned in thought. "If that's so, wouldn't it be dangerous for you to be out in sea? What if you fell in the waters like how I did?"

He smirked. "Kyonko, I've lived my life as a pirate for three years. I don't think that I'll ever find myself drowning anytime soon," he assured proudly.

That's because you'll be dead before you get the chance to realize it.

I had a feeling that the knowledge of the Devil Fruit in general was common, so I decided to keep my ignorance discreet. I mean, for common knowledge, even an amnesiac should know what a Devil Fruit was, right? I think I handled it well when he answered to another question. "I never seen a Devil Fruit, and I don't think I've heard about it so much. What does it look like? Does it taste, well, devilish?"

"I've entered some places where people believed the Devil Fruit to be just sailor stories, but they're real. The Devil Fruit come in different shape and form," he replied. His face then scrunched up, as if recalling a bad memory. "As for the taste, I have to say that it was the nastiest thing I ever put in my mouth."

We delved deeper into the village. The bricked path that we were following had a long wall that ran along the way, foliage growing over it. Above, there were buildings—houses, shops, and the like. It really did fit the village image. I never saw something quite like it. I thought to myself, this was a cute place. The approaching night made the area seem to be at ultimate tranquility, the village and its residents falling into restfulness.

I just hoped that they didn't completely turn to their beds. I was still sopping wet and cold. I took an involuntary step closer to Ace, later finding myself flushed up against his bare chest.

Whoa there.

I didn't pull back because he was _sooo_ warm and I was _sooo_ cold, but I did try not to ogle at him. Despite the ugly hat and his…Aceness, he had a nicely defined chest. Oh my, were those _six-packed abs_?

Wait, wait. Stop thinking, Kyonko. Just stop it.

This was Ace, for crying out loud!

I mean, a nicer, older, and shirtless version of him, but it's still _Ace_!

He looked down at me. "Hey, your face is all red. Did you catch a cold?" He brushed a hand to cup my forehead. "You're rather warm."

"I, uh…" I swallowed. "Maybe we should just hurry and get find a shop."

"Mm. Good idea."

XOXOXO

The first time I noticed his tattoos was in the shop. His back was turned to me and I stood there, dumbfounded by not only how the tattoo took a great stretch across his broad back, but also by the fact that Ace had a _tattoo_. Well, _two_ tattoos.

On his back, the tattoo was a skull that had an upside crescent above its grin. There were four bones protruding from the skull, one above its head, one below its chin, and both on either side. The more I looked at it I later realized that the crescent was actually a mustache for the skull. Weird.

The second tattoo was on his arm. In big black letters, it read ASCE, except with the S crossed out. I wondered if it was an insignia for something or that the tattooist had misspelled his name. I voted for the latter. Or maybe the Ace in this world never honed his academic skills like how his younger counterpart did and therefore got his name screwed up, which I find it odd since I've known my Ace to be one of the smartest people I know.

But, come on—Asce. Asce. Asce. It's kind of funny once you think about it.

Ace turned around, shooting me a grin that I would have imagined it to be suspicious on the Ace I know. I mean, if I ever caught my Ace looking down at me with a face that expressed "genuine benevolence", it would be translated to "I'm going to do more than paint Chopper green to attract an alien."

As I willed myself not to shudder (because this Ace was a completely different person), Ace handed me a basket full of clothes while saying, "I got you a new change of clothes. There should be a room-key in there for you to go change in. While you do that, I'll go get us dinner."

I watched Ace wave me goodbye and walk away. Ace being cheery and nice still failed to register in my brain.

There was someone clearing her voice. I looked over my shoulder, my eyes landing on the lady behind the counter. She grinned, her red lips stretching across her wrinkly face. "He's a cutie, that man. Is he yours?" she asked with a leer. "If not, you better claim first dibs; handsome fellas like him will be snatched away in a heartbeat."

Oh _no_. Not this again! Another old lady showing creepy interest in Ace—_ugh_.

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks," I murmured before making a dash for it.

The room that Ace got for us in the hostel was cramped. By the large window curtained with beige raggedy drapes was a bunk-bed. Adjoining the room was a bathroom via a door. I locked the door and peeled away my pajamas before hopping into the tub. I should have at least turned on the shower and waited for the water to get warm because I was suddenly pelted with icy rain.

I had groaned mournfully.

Since there were no shampoos, I made use with a stale bar of soap that was sitting on one corner of the tub. I seriously contemplated cutting my hair; it was starting to get a mind of its own with its unruly tangles—I really wanted a brush. When I was done, I grabbed a towel and dried myself, and then proceeding changing into the clothes that Ace had gotten me.

I was happy to note that there was a pair of underwear for me, but I was a little confused about the long strip of bandage I found in the basket. When I couldn't find a bra, I realized that I had to wrap the bandage around my chest. Other than that, there was a T-shirt, trousers, socks, and ankle-high boots. I slipped on the shirt and pants on, and then left the socks and boots next to the bed.

Ace eventually returned with a paper bag full of baguettes and apples. I was surprised that he could find food so late at this time. We sat on the carpet and began to eat our fill. We would be eating in silence if Ace hadn't been one for being a garrulous kind of guy, even around strangers. I guess he saved us from having one awkward moment.

"So, I asked around about amnesia, just in case if something comes up while we travel together," he said after taking a bite of his apple.

I blinked. "Really?"

"Well, alright, I just asked the old grocer while I was buying the food. He said his daughter once suffered from it. Apparently, it just takes time for an amnesiac to regain his or her memories and would gain them faster if resting in a familiar environment." Ace frowned. "Which was pretty disappointing to hear, since the only place I know that you had come from was the sea."

"Ahh," I said knowingly.

"Unless I take you back to the sea again, but I can't do that yet after I do some investigating on this island. Notwithstanding the responsibility I have over you now, I appreciate the company," he remarked with a grin.

"I think you mentioned that before." I tore a piece of bread before plopping it into my mouth. "And what do you mean by responsibility? You make me sound like I'm some little kid."

"I saved you from the waters and heatstroke, I made sure you got fed and warmth, and need I mention that you're now have shelter? You're putting a dent on my budget."

"Oh." I looked down at my lap, feeling a little remorseful. Here I was, starting to get all comfy and cozy too quickly for my liking, letting the fact that I was burdening Ace slip from my mind. Just what was I doing? "Oh. Uh, sorry."

He shook his head. "No, no, I didn't mean it like that. Kyonko, I don't mind having you around, really. I just…" He wrinkled his nose in thought. "Well, it's kind of weird…"

"What's weird?" I asked, curious.

"Well, I never considered myself as the Good Samaritan, you know, stopping by to help someone dying on the road," he admitted. "I know this might sound odd, but I think I met you somewhere before."

At those words, I felt my heart thud against my ribcage. He met me somewhere? Somewhere where? Law said that there wasn't a parallel me in this world, so Ace couldn't have ever met me. Unless… Unless he of this world and he of my world are somehow linked. I mean, it would make sense. In theory, my Ace is just a soul fragment of this Ace, so a connection could be possible.

But what kind of link would it be? A telepathic one? No, otherwise there would be no need for the SOS Brigade or Ace ever telling me that story of his childhood. Then what? What was it?

Maybe I was over-thinking this. There could be a chance that there was someone else in similarity to me, a coincidence. A strangely accurate coincidence, but a coincidence nonetheless. That could be it, or something else.

"Is…that so?" I said slowly.

"Now look what I done. You think I'm a weirdo."

"What? No I don't." I think you're other self's the weirdo.

He waved dismissively. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. I don't think I was quite normal from the start regardless of the Devil Fruit. The people from my hometown used to comment about my charming perks."

"And the pirate thing?"

"Hmm?"

"You being a pirate. Did that come along with your un-normalness?" I clarified my question.

"I guess so," Ace said with a short laugh. "Ever since I was little, I had always dreamt of sailing on the seas, going out and seeing the world. It was the kind of adventure that I longed for, that and I wanted to make my own crew of pirates who wanted to share that adventure with me."

"Oh, so you're, like, a captain?" I said, surprised. Well, it did make sense since the other Ace was the chief of the SOS Brigade.

"I once was," he said, a rueful smile on his face. "But I was a young captain full of hot air, thinking that I alone could accomplish finding One Piece and become the Pirate King."

One Piece? Pirate King?

"Then I met the old man Whitebeard who accepted me into his crew, his family. I was a different man ever since," he ended. He finished his apple and chucked the core into the wastebasket that was set across the room. "Can't say if I had even matured at all after all this, but when you're travelling on a ship full of overgrown babies, their unique personalities shape you," he added with fondness.

Did his adventures really make him the man I see today? "How does it feel being peripatetic?" I wondered. "Haven't you ever wished just…settling down? Having a family of your own? You know, watching your kids grow and eventually giving you gray hairs?"

"Settling down?" Ace reiterated with mortification. "What a boring life!"

That sounded like the Ace I knew.

"Is it really?" I asked.

"Sure, it sounds like a nice life," he relented, "but it's not a life suitable for a man like me. Besides, I already have a family of my own: the Whitebeard Pirates and my little brother and grandpa."

Little brother? Did he mean Luffy?

I reclined against the wall and took the moment to assess his words while polishing off my dinner. If I got this right, then what Ace had told me about his life as a pirate was nothing but an idle life of sailing to new places. No responsibilities to tie him down when all he could do was run around and have fun. But it didn't seem like he was completely negligent of doing a duty; he was away from his crew in order to find "this man who's done something terrible," or so Ace had told me.

It was the kind of life that my Ace would die to have, I think. It was definitely something out of the norm. And then I began to wonder how he would turn out to be if he was around this Ace's age. Would he have matured? Would he still be the eccentric yet talented chief of the SOS Brigade?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that anything could happen. For the better or for the worse. In my past experience with Ace, it usually ended for the worst because he expected everyone to succumb to his own selfishness, but somehow, by a weird natural phenomenon, things turn out alright. Like the baseball game we were forced to participate; no one really wanted to play in the tournament, but we all enjoyed ourselves when the day was over.

How Ace turns out would be unexpected. I just wonder how long does he plan on dragging me along for the ride.

"—sometimes, I like to snap his limbs and throw him in a pot and boil him alive," Ace said.

My head turned around so fast that I nearly gave myself a whiplash. "_What_?"

Ace smiled. "You were drifting off," he said.

"I wasn't drifting off," I said, running my hand through my bangs. "Just thinking."

"Right." He stood up and gave a stretch. "Well, time for bed. Do you want the top or bottom bunk?"


End file.
